Hypertension : a volunteer education program

Includes bibliographical references (pages 62-67)The purposes of this Project were to: 1. Develop a curriculum to assist staff of the High Blood Pressure Council of Los Angeles in the training of volunteer hypertension counselors. 2. Implement a pilot volunteer hypertension counselor training program, utilizing the curriculum as a training guide. 3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the training program in providing Council volunteers with information and skills necessary to adequately perform the role of volunteer hypertension counselor. The Volunteer Hypertension Counselor Curriculum was developed by utilizing the results of a review of the literature and a telephone survey of the directors of eight state-funded hypertension projects. The content areas included in the curriculum were: 1. An Overview of the High Blood Pressure Council of Los Angeles. 2. An Overview of High Blood Pressure. 3. Medications in the Control of High Blood Pressure. 4. Diet in the Control of High Blood Pressure. 5. The Screening Process. 6. Lifestyle Modification and the Control of Hypertension. 7. Compliance and the Control of High Blood Pressure. The pilot training program was implemented in March, 1978. The study sample consisted of seven volunteers of the High Blood Pressure Council of Los Angeles, who had been trained previously to measure blood pressure accurately. A research design consisting of a pre-test, followed by educational activity and a post-test was used for the study. A questionnaire was designed to measure the volunteers??? pre-program and post-program knowledge. Evaluation tools were also developed to evaluate the volunteers??? behavioral skills and to evaluate the content and learning opportunities of the curriculum. Based on the analysis of the data, the following conclusions were reached: 1. there was significant increase in participant knowledge from the pre-program to the post-program questionnaire; 2. As judged by the volunteers and the class observers, the learning opportunities and content were effective methods of achieving the instructional objectives; and 3. The Curriculum Committee agreed that the curriculum was a valuable and effective guide in assisting the Council staff to train volunteers in the skills and information necessary to perform the role of volunteers hypertension counselor