title: Exploring effects of therapeutic massage and patient teaching in the practice of diaphragmatic breathing on blood pressure, stress, and anxiety in hypertensive African-American women: an intervention study.
abstract: The problem of hypertension among African-Americans is one of the major areas of health disparities. The American Heart Association (2009) noted that the prevalence of hypertension among African-Americans is perhaps among the highest in the world and this is particularly so among African-American women (44.0%). The purpose of this study was to determine how therapeutic chair massage and patient teaching in diaphragmatic breathing affected African-American women's blood pressure, stress, and anxiety levels over one week or six weeks time periods. A Modified Stress, Coping, and Adaptation Model (Roy, 1976; Lazarus, 1966), Descriptives, T-tests, Pearson Product Moment Correlations, Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and Multivariate analysis of variance with covariate (MANCOVA) were used. Descriptive statistics indicated a significance for decreased systolic blood pressure levels for the one week post massage intervention measurement with p = .01, diastolic blood pressure level significance for the same group p = .02, significance for this group's State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Y2 Scale score p = .01, and Roy's Largest Root p = .03.
authors.affiliation: Dillard University, 2601 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70122, USA. ljefferson@dillard.edu
authors.forename: Lenetra L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Jefferson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D001945:Breathing Exercises; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008145:Louisiana; D008405:Massage / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014930:Women / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology