Cut Your Pressure Too: The Altadena Barbershop Blood Pressure Study, Phase 2 (Intervention Pilot Study)

This study is the second of two "Barbershop" studies at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The first study at Wally's Barbershop in Altadena, CA was called the "Barber-Based Intervention for Hypertension in Black Men: Baseline Data Collection." Men at Wally's barbershop who were found to have high blood pressure as a participant in the first study are now being asked to participate in the second Cedars-Sinai study. During this second study the men will be asked to (1) return to Wally's barbershop to have their blood pressure measured to see how they are doing now, (2) review any medicines participants are taking, and (3) work with a health care team that includes their doctor, personal barber, and a pharmacist, to help them improve their blood pressure management. This second study is a six month long study. All men that agree to participate will allow the barber to measure their blood pressure each time they return to Wally's Barbershop for a haircut and ask their barber to call the study's pharmacist to arrange a follow-up visit in a local pharmacy. The goal of this second study is to show if a team approach, which means involvement of a barber and the pharmacist, can help make it easier for men to work with their doctor to get blood pressure under control. ROLE MODEL STORIES (DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTH MESSAGING TOOLS) Role model posters are not intended as recruitment materials, but rather are educational tools that intend to highlight positive experiences of participation. The text of the role model stories will in no way provide statements of the effectiveness of the intervention being evaluated by the present research study. Rather, they are the main health messaging tools needed to promote completion of the program in order to achieve the experiences described. Essentially they document will be used as an intervention tool for peer-based health messaging - stories from real customers in the barbershop modeling target behaviors leading that promote continued participation in the protocol by peers with the hopes of achieving to the detection, treatment, and control of high blood pressure. The Cedars-Sinai research team will interview selected participants who are already adopters of our new program, to serve as models for their peers and write the model stories that will be displayed in the barbershop. Each story will model one specific behavior, one influencing factor, and one positive outcome. Each role model story will encourage one of two desired health behaviors of potential subjects with elevated BP: 1) ask the barber to check patients' BP with each haircut, 2) schedule a follow-up visit with the study pharmacist to get patient's blood pressure under control. Large posters in the barbershop will show the model customer, his barber, and the study pharmacist who facilitated the desired behavior change. The model's (participants) own words will be used on the poster. A signed memo of agreement will be obtained from each model to record and display their story and anyone who is pictured in the story will also sign a memo of agreement to participate. The model will approve the final draft of the poster before being displayed in the barbershop, and control of high blood pressure. The Cedars-Sinai research team will interview selected participants who are already adopters of our new program, to serve as models for their peers and write the model stories that will be displayed in the barbershop. Each story will model one specific behavior, one influencing factor, and one positive outcome. Each role model story will encourage one of two desired health behaviors of potential subjects with elevated BP: 1) ask the barber to check patient's BP with each haircut, 2) schedule a follow-up visit with the study pharmacist to get patient's blood pressure under control. Large posters in the barbershop will show the model customer, his barber, and the study pharmacist who facilitated the desired behavior change. The model's (participants) own words will be used on the poster. A signed memo of agreement will be obtained from each model to record and display their story and anyone who is pictured in the story will also sign a memo of agreement to participate. The model will approve the final draft of the poster before being displayed in the barbershop. AME11226: The investigators are requesting an amendment to our original protocol in order to pilot test a six-month Minimal Maintenance Phase that will follow the six-month Intervention Phase. The barber will continue to monitor participants' blood pressure but the study pharmacists will limit their interaction to phone calls (vs. face-to-face visits as in the Intervention Phase). In addition, all study compensation for participants will be discontinued. The goal of discontinuing such compensation is to demonstrate that participants will continue to be proactive about controlling their blood pressure as a result of intrinsic motivation with continued social support from the barber and minimal phone follow-up with the pharmacist.