Cornell Translational Behavioral Science Research Consortium: Hypertension Qualitative Study

• The first goal is to explore the meaning, causes and treatment of hypertension in eligible patients. In addition the cultural, social, and psychological factors that either facilitate or serve, as barriers to behavioral change will be illuminated in this patient population. Through a series of open-ended questions we will explore and build a better understanding of how hypertensive African American patients view their illness and the difficulties they have in taking their antihypertensive medications as prescribed.
• The second goal of the qualitative phase is to use the responses obtained to inform how we should operationalize and tailor the positive affect induction and self-affirmation intervention methods in hypertensive African American patients.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients must be self-identified as African-Americans.
• All patients must be aged 18 years and older.
• All patients must be diagnosed as having hypertension: For this project, hypertension will be defined according to the widely accepted criteria of the 6th Joint National Committee (JNC VI) Guidelines on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of Hypertension, which is a systolic blood pressure > 140 mm hg or a diastolic blood pressure > 90 mm hg or if participants are taking any prescribed antihypertensive medication.
• Patients must be able to provide informed consent in English.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who refuse to participate
• Patients who are unable to provide informed consent.