This ethnographic study will explore the way a multi racial/ethnic sample of aging urban transit operators and their doctors communicate with each other about the transit operators chronic health condition, hypertension. It will also look at the way transit operators interpret medical advice they receive in the routine practices of their daily lives. The study seeks to illuminate the choices that transit operators make in the way they manage their health. In addition, it seeks to describe the impact that various treatment regimens, including the use of prescription drugs, have on these workers quality of life, both on and off the job. The study will also seek to reveal the meaning that hypertension has for transit operators, considering such possibilities as the effect that labeling as """"""""ill"""""""" may have on the transit operators view of themselves, and the impact of personal and cultural beliefs on the transit operators understanding and management of their condition. The research will attempt to distinguish effective and ineffective communication patterns and successful and unsuccessful self-management strategies with regard to an outcome of great importance as America s population ages -""""""""controlled"""""""" high blood pressure.
