This project, 'Peer Support for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction in Female Veterans', seeks to address the damaging health impacts of heart disease on women Veterans. Women Veterans are at increased risk for developing heart disease due to common issues like obesity, tobacco smoking, and mental health disorders. Current guidelines recommend engaging in certain health behaviors, such as eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise, to prevent the development of cardiovascular disease. This project will develop an intervention to reduce cardiovascular risk among female Veterans through the partnering of female Veterans (e.g. peers) to provide each other support to promote engagement in heart healthy behaviors. Women Veterans will be paired with another fellow female Veteran based on personal characteristics (e.g. age, service era, medical diagnoses) to support in each other in the pursuit of decreasing both Veteran's heart disease risk. The overarching goal of this project is to decrease heart disease among women Veterans.
| Goldstein, Karen M; Stechuchak, Karen M; Zullig, Leah L et al. (2017) Impact of Gender on Satisfaction and Confidence in Cholesterol Control Among Veterans at Risk for Cardiovascular Disease. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 26:806-814 |
