Stroke Awareness in Two Rural Counties in Mississippi, USA.

Mississippi has one of the highest stroke mortality rates in the nation. This paper present results of 2005 and 2006 surveys undertaken in an intervention and control county in rural Mississippi. A random-digit-dial (RDD) telephone surveys were conducted on adults 18 and older sampled from the civilian, non-institutionalized populations of Warren (control) and Washington (intervention) counties before and after implementing a 6-month long stroke awareness educational campaign in Washington County. The analyzed results indicate that response rates to several of the questions increased after the intervention in Washington County, the results of this small sample survey do not show sufficient evidence to support any effect of the intervention. A significant lesson learned from this effort is that a more specific target population must be selected for intervention, and much tailored messages and appropriate media must also be identified and implemented.