Black women, ACEs, and heart disease: Please encourage Black women from Georgia, Florida, Alabama and North Carolina to participate in "Our Heart Study."

The purpose of my study entitled Our Heart Study is to understand the factors that increase the risk of heart disease in Black women and the factors that protect them.  

Health inequities greatly impact Black women in the South.  Black women are at risk for poor health outcomes, especially heart disease, because they  experience a disproportionate amount of stress related to racism, sexism and often classism.  

Additionally, Black women are more likely to experience toxic stress related to exposure to adverse childhood experiences or ACES.  

To mitigate this stress, many adopt the persona of a Strong Black Woman or receive social support from family, friends and church.  But how much heart disease risk are they able to alleviate by participating in these protective behaviors?

My research study, and the goal of my dissertation, is to find out more about the risks and the protective factors.  

 The study is approved by the Florida A&M University IRB.   I have approval to conduct the study online, provide information about the study through a study website, and to use social media to bring awareness to the study.  I need about 500 black women to participate across four states - North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Georgia.  

Please help bring awareness of and participation in the Our Heart Study by doing any or all of the following: 

• Forward this email to your friends, family and colleagues 
• Encourage Black women to take the survey 
• Visit the study website and share it with your friends, family and colleagues 
• Like the Our Heart Study Facebook page and share the study on FB 

 This is an unfunded study so participants will not be paid; however, they can enter into a raffle to win one of two $50 gift cards. 

 Click here to participate: https://famu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_74hrHaDuPLqmR93