Design of Heart Well: A randomized pilot study of a community health worker-delivered nutrition intervention for low-income adults with hypertension

BACKGROUND Suboptimal diet and food insecurity contribute to hypertension disparities experienced by individuals with low-income. Clinic-based nutrition counseling is limited by time constraints and low access to dietitians. Integrating community health workers (CHWs) with basic nutrition training into care teams may be an effective strategy to promote sustainable dietary modifications. OBJECTIVE Describe the design of Heart Well, a study to determine whether adding nutrition counseling to a primary care-based CHW hypertension program is feasible and acceptable and improves diet and blood pressure (BP). METHODS Heart Well is a 4-month randomized controlled study of low-income adults (N = 60) who have uncontrolled hypertension and are enrolled in a CHW hypertension coaching program. The control group receives usual care in the existing hypertension program. The intervention group additionally receives nutrition counseling on label reading, healthy eating on a budget, and simplified nutrition education (e.g., traffic light categories, green = healthy). Intervention CHWs are trained by a registered dietitian, who also provides ongoing CHW support. Primary outcomes are feasibility (i.e., proportion of participants enrolled, percent completion of nutrition modules) and acceptability (i.e., participant ratings of nutrition components). Secondary outcomes are changes over 4 months in Healthy Eating Index-2020 scores (calculated from dietary recalls) and in BP. CONCLUSIONS Heart Well tests a novel strategy integrating nutrition counseling tailored to low-income adults into an existing CHW hypertension program. Results will inform a larger trial to evaluate the intervention's impact on cardiovascular health and may have implications for CHW interventions for other diet-sensitive chronic diseases. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.govNCT06358417.