Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in America and kills
more women each year than all other cancers combined. While women’s level of awareness of
heart disease has increased, they often do not perceive their risk of heart disease accurately, nor
do they understand the importance of adopting heart-healthy behaviors to reduce risk.
Objective: By implementing a combination of counseling from a health care provider and
computer-based tailored education, this project aimed to test the effectiveness of using the Go
Red for Women™ Heart CheckUp as an educational intervention for high-risk women to
increase the accurate perception of risk, improve CAD knowledge, and increase intent to make
behavioral changes.
Methods and Discussion: Twenty-one women with a history of CAD, myocardial infarction,
percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, or coronary artery bypass grafting completed
the Go Red for Women™ Heart CheckUp tool and rated their perception of risk from CAD and
belief that they could change their risk both before and after the tool. There was an increase in
perception of risk and belief in change after the tool. Qualitative data showed participants were
educated about CAD.
Conclusion: The Go Red for Women™ Heart Check-up tool was shown to be useful in educating
high-risk women about their cardiac risk and in promoting heart-healthy behaviors
