Impact of LifeSkills Training on Blood Pressure in Youth

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): Essential hypertension (EH) affects one out of four adults and is a primary risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading cause of death in the US. Essential hypertension (EH) has its patho-biologic origins in childhood. Since blood pressure (BP) ranking tracks from late childhood onward, adolescents with high normal BP are at risk for development of EH. Clinical research has shown behavioral interventions to have great promise in reducing BP levels. To date few such programs targeting students have been implemented in the high school setting. This application requests support to adapt the Williams LifeSkills (WLS) workshop (a protocol-driven 12-session stress/anger management workshop) for use in high schools. This study will develop an innovative intervention designed to reduce ambulatory BP, BP reactivity to stress, hostility, anger, and school-related problem behaviors among a population of adolescents with high normal BP. The specific aim of Phase I is to identify adaptations in format and timing necessary to successfully conduct the 12-session WLS Workshop in a high school setting. This aim will be accomplished through-- a) focus groups and interviews with students to guide fine-tuning of the program content; b) conducting two pilot cycles of workshop, to obtain feedback from the students regarding course content, style of presentation and materials. This project will adapt a highly developed anger/stress management program that will become available for Health Education curriculums in schools across the country. If successful, this project presents a tremendous potential for not only reduction in hostility, anger and school-related conduct problems, but more importantly for prevention of cardiovascular disease via reduced BP and a concomitant enormous reduction in health care costs.