Abstract：
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States, with African Americans experiencing higher age-adjusted mortality compared to Whites. African American women in particular carry a high CVD burden due to more exposure to adverse personal and socioenvironmental challenges. Church-based interventions can improve health behaviors and health status of African Americans, yet few have addressed stress-related health. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the 18-month Health for Hearts United intervention in relation to stress-related outcomes (perceived stress, allostatic load) of mid-life and older African American women (≥45 years of age; n = 152 overall sample, n = 65 clinical subsample). The results of the repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyses showed overall significant decreases in perceived stress and allostatic load for both treatment and comparison groups over the measurement occasions (baseline and 18 months) with educational level remaining as a significant correlate over time. There was no significant interaction between treatment and time, yet there were trends in improvements for the treatment group compared to the comparison group. The findings demonstrate the potential of church-based interventions in reducing both self-reported stress and allostatic load in African American women, and highlight the need for further investigation of educational level and other possible factors influencing stress management in these settings.
摘要：
心血管疾病（CVD）仍然是美国的主要死亡原因，与白人相比，非洲裔美国人的年龄调整死亡率更高。特别是非洲裔美国妇女由于更多地暴露于不利的个人和社会环境挑战而承担着很高的心血管疾病负担。基于教会的干预措施可以改善非裔美国人的健康行为和健康状况，然而，很少有人解决与压力相关的健康问题。本研究的目的是确定18个月健康心脏联合干预与压力相关结果的有效性（感知压力，同种异体负荷)中年和老年非裔美国女性(≥45岁；n=152个总体样本，n=65个临床子样本)。重复测量方差分析（ANOVA）分析的结果表明，在测量时间（基线和18个月）内，治疗组和对照组的感知压力和同种异体负荷总体显着降低，而教育水平随时间保持显着相关性。治疗和时间之间没有显著的交互作用,然而,与对照组相比,治疗组有改善趋势.研究结果表明，基于教会的干预措施在减少非裔美国妇女自我报告的压力和同种异体负荷方面具有潜力。并强调需要进一步调查这些环境中影响压力管理的教育水平和其他可能因素。
