Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Asian Indians in the United States (US), and evidence suggests that Asian Indians are at greater risk for CVD than many other racial/ethnic groups. Little is known about how to improve primary and secondary CVD prevention in this rapidly growing population. I am a medical internist who seeks to develop a career as an independent clinician investigator who designs, implements, and evaluates community-based CVD prevention interventions for Asian Americans. My long-term research agenda requires me to obtain additional training in: 1) health communication and the development of culturally-targeted health messages; and 2) health intervention research. The training and research program described in this application will take place over 5 years in the cross-disciplinary environment of Northwestern University's Division of General Internal Medicine, which houses the Program in Communication & Medicine. Because of the heterogeneity of US Asians, this career development award focuses on one Asian subgroup, Asian Indians. The overall aim of this research project is to develop and evaluate a multimedia CVD Patient Education Program (PEP) specifically for Asian Indians. Dr. David Baker, Division Chief of General Internal Medicine, is my primary mentor and will oversee my scientific and career development. He will provide content expertise in CVD and designing health interventions. Dr. Gregory Makoul, the director of the Program in Communication & Medicine, is my co-mentor and will guide me in developing and evaluating the PEP. The first phase of this research plan consists of structured interviews with Asian Indians to assess causal models, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about CVD. In the second phase, I will use information from the interviews to develop, refine, and pilot-test the culturally targeted multimedia PEP. The pilot-test will assess the effects of using a culturally targeted, multimedia CVD PEP versus a non-targeted, multimedia CVD PEP on Asian Indians' message reception, message acceptance, perceptions of individual risk, and intention to get screened. By the end of the period of my career development award, I will be uniquely positioned to conduct a large, randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of using a targeted multimedia intervention in community-based health centers and other community settings on CVD screening rates in Asian Indians and other Asian American communities.
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