# Pharmacist-CHW Team to Improve Medication Adherence and Reduce Hypertension Disparities

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2022 · $70,487

## Abstract

Project Summary
The proposed NHLBI Diversity Supplement, Medication Adherence among Vietnamese immigrants to the US,
will explore the interrelationships among social support, health literacy, and medication adherence in
Vietnamese immigrants with hypertension in Springfield, MA. The parent study, Pharmacist-CHW Team to
Improve Medication Adherence and Reduce Hypertension Disparities, will test an interprofessional care team
intervention to identify and address individual, clinical, social-cultural and structural barriers to medication
adherence among high-risk minority patients with hypertension, polypharmacy use and nonadherence. The
proposed Diversity Supplement will support Ms. Thupten Phuntsog (Dorney), MPH, a second-generation
daughter of Tibetan refugees to the U.S., as she gains mixed-method research experience and skills in
qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to complete her PhD in Community Health Education
at the University of Massachusetts. The proposed research will expand Ms. Phuntsog’s expertise in refugee
and immigrant health by focusing on Vietnamese immigrant patients, one of the 3 targeted subgroups in the
parent study, at Caring Health Center, and will provide a multidimensional (quantitative and qualitative)
understanding of the cultural and structural facilitators and barriers to medication adherence among
Vietnamese patients with hypertension. Research conducted for this supplement is complementary to the
parent project as it provides greater depth of information about social factors in medication adherence among
Vietnamese participants than is allowed by resource constraints in the parent project. The candidate will
complete additional analyses of the quantitative data from the parent study to examine the interrelationships
among social support, health literacy, and medication adherence among Vietnamese participants in the parent
study (Aim 1). With the help of a bilingual, bicultural CHW, Ms. Phuntsog will conduct focus groups with
Vietnamese participants to explore their understanding of three translated instruments: two social support
scales (the MOS-Social Support Survey and two social support items from the PRAPARE tool) and the Beliefs
about Medicines Questionnaire (Aim 2). Findings from these focus groups will improve the translations of these
scales used in the parent study. In addition, a sub-sample of Vietnamese participants in the parent study will
complete in-depth interviews to better understand the relationships between social support, health literacy, and
medication adherence (Aim 3). By focusing on an in-depth understanding of the role of social support and
health literacy among Vietnamese immigrants, this project will identify barriers experienced by immigrant and
refugee groups and contribute to the development of tailored resources and other facilitators for chronic
disease management.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10628105
- **Project number:** 3R01HL151772-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeannie Kim Lee
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $70,487
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-09-06 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10628105

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10628105, Pharmacist-CHW Team to Improve Medication Adherence and Reduce Hypertension Disparities (3R01HL151772-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10628105. Licensed CC0.

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