title: The Mosque Campaign: a cardiovascular prevention program for female Turkish immigrants.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Women's Health Office of the State of Tyrol, Austria, provides cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention programs for women. However, local Turkish women have not participated in our programs. The aim of the so-called Mosque Campaign was to conduct a Turkish-language, culture-sensitive CVD prevention program tailored to the needs of Turkish women to improve their knowledge of CVD risk factors and to minimize ethnic differences in participation rates for preventive programs.
  
  
  METHODS
  The pilot program was conducted in all 28 mosques in Tyrol during the years 1999/00, 2000/01 and 2001/02. A Turkish educational lecture and the opportunity for a private medical consultation were provided, and 2,446 Turkish women completed a questionnaire on their personal knowledge of CVD. In addition a total of 1,992 blood pressure readings were taken.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the women belonged to the first generation of female immigrants and reported not using German-language media. About one-third of the women considered themselves to be obese. More than 13 % had raised systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure. We observed a significant decrease in unawareness of the main CVD risk factors from 1999/00 to 2001/02: unawareness of cholesterol level decreased from 57.4 % to 32.4 % (p < 0.001), of blood pressure from 41.3 % to 29.6 % (p < 0.001) and of blood glucose from 49.7 % to 25.2 % (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even though Austria provides free access to healthcare services, a large number of Turkish women were not aware of their CVD risk factors. The Mosque Campaign reached female Turkish migrants and was effective in reducing their level of unawareness about CVD. Language-adapted and culture-sensitive programs are necessary to ensure greater equality for ethnic minority groups.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Gender Studies, Innsbruck, Austria. angelika.bader@tilak.at
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bader
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Musshauser
authors.forename: Filiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Hayriye
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bezirkan
authors.forename: Margarethe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hochleitner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D016387:Women's Health