# Walk Together: A Family-Based Intervention for Hypertension In African Americans

> **NIH NIH R21** · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $259,738

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
DESCRIPTION: Hypertension (HTN) is the largest causal factor of racial disparities in mortality between
African Americans and Whites, and currently impacts more than half of African American adults. Despite the
empirically-supported benefits of HTN self-management, too few African Americans achieve HTN control, in
part due to lower adherence to behaviors like diet and exercise, compared to White patients. Barriers to self-
management among African Americans include limited health knowledge, stress, and difficulty sustaining
lifestyle changes. Family members make substantial contributions to HTN self-management in this population,
however, family support is not leveraged by current HTN self-management interventions. Family-based self-
management interventions that leverage patients’ family support networks have proven beneficial for other
chronic conditions. Thus, there is a critical need for empirically-driven family-based interventions to improve the
self-management of HTN for African American patients. The proposed study will develop a novel family-based
HTN self-management intervention, Walk Together, adapted from an existing empirically-supported dyadic
intervention, for implementation in primary care. Specifically, we will (1) develop an innovative intervention for
HTN that integrates theoretically-driven research on family support effects on health outcomes, and
community-based participatory cultural perspectives in the specifics of the intervention; and, (2) determine the
feasibility, acceptability, and safety of the Walk Together intervention. The proposed family-based intervention
will be the first to target the HTN self-management behaviors of African Americans via incorporating family
members in both intervention design and directly in the intervention. Results of this study will provide critical
information to move us closer to determining the impact of Walk Together on HTN control, and toward
scalability for the proposed protocol.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10509609
- **Project number:** 1R21MD017658-01
- **Recipient organization:** UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Sarah B. Woods
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $259,738
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-07-25 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10509609

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10509609, Walk Together: A Family-Based Intervention for Hypertension In African Americans (1R21MD017658-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10509609. Licensed CC0.

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