Advancing Techquity: Optimization of the FAITH! App for Dissemination to Promote Cardiovascular Health among African Americans

Digital health interventions are efficacious in improving cardiovascular health (CVH) and cardiovascular (CV) outcomes. Mobile technologies such as smartphones are used frequently to access health information, especially by African-Americans (AAs). However, there is a paucity of effective, culturally relevant, evidence- based interventions available. Leveraging community-based participatory research (CBPR), the FAITH! (Fostering African-American Improvement in Total Health!) Program, led by Dr. LaPrincess Brewer, co- designed a culturally tailored CVH-focused mobile health (mHealth) intervention alongside AA community members. The community-informed FAITH! App was then tested in an American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health-funded cluster randomized clinical trial (RCT), the FAITH! Trial, among participants (N=85) from predominantly AA churches in Rochester and the Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP), Minnesota metropolitan areas. The study found that the FAITH! App resulted in significant improvements in CVH scores and behaviors (diet, physical activity). Participants viewed the app as equitable for CVH education and suggested optimizing our web-based mHealth tool into a smartphone app. Our overarching goal is to enhance the FAITH! App to serve as a versatile, scalable platform to extend the reach of the FAITH! program. To achieve this goal, our Small Business (CareEvolution)/Academic Partner (Mayo Clinic, FAITH!) team proposes 2 aims: Aim 1 will analyze participant feedback previously obtained from a mixed-methods, formative evaluation of the web-based FAITH! App intervention in the FAITH! Trial Cohort. Primary outcomes are app usability, acceptability, and satisfaction by participants. Aim 2 will optimize the FAITH! App through synthesis of findings of the intervention formative evaluation and human-centered design sessions with community members. We will develop an optimized, smartphone-based FAITH! App with improved user experience, usability, and potential for global dissemination through partnerships with key strategic stakeholders and academic institutions for decentralized health monitoring and clinical data collection. Primary outcomes include optimized app usability, acceptability, and satisfaction. Our project is innovative in that it offers a community co-designed, culturally tailored tool for CVH promotion for AAs, a niche and population often overlooked by generic lifestyle apps. More importantly, following CBPR principles and the NIMHD Health Disparities Research Framework, this proposal leverages an academic-community-business partnership (Mayo Clinic-FAITH!-CareEvolution); thus, ensuring that the community’s priorities and preferences are central to the development of the optimized FAITH! App. Synergy between FAITH! and the CareEvolution innovative, multimodality platform, MyDataHelpsTM will catalyze the achievement of the Phase 1 proposal objectives. Project Number: 1R43HL174670-01A1 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) | Principal Investigator: Vikas Kheterpal (+1 co-PI) | Institution: CAREEVOLUTION LLC, ANN ARBOR, MI | Award Amount: $498,576 | Activity Code: R43 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZMD1 JT (J1)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1R43HL17467001A1