Abstract Body: Background:
Race-ethnic disparities in stroke care and clinical outcomes exist and may be driven by delayed symptom recognition which in turn limits access to time sensitive treatments. Current stroke awareness tools exist in English and Spanish in the USA, but none target the large Haitian population living in the United States. To address this gap in community outreach and stroke awareness education, the Florida Stroke Registry (FSR) collaborated with its Haitian stakeholders to develop a Haitian Creole specific stroke awareness tool.
Methods:
The BE-FAST (Balance, Eyes, Face, Arm, Speech, Time) acronym is a recognized stroke awareness tool which is linked to earlier patient arrival times at hospital and better treatment outcomes. We report on the methodology for creating a Haitian Creole specific stroke awareness tool through multiple iterations and feedback from the FSR stakeholders: FEL VIT and FE VIT. The FSR Education Core collected feedback from FSR stakeholders and community partners fluent in Haitian Creole to determine which of the two translations was most suited for the Haitian Creole speaking community in Florida.
Results:
A total of 46 healthcare professionals participated in the survey, 93% of whom agreed that translating the BE-FAST acronym to Haitian Creole would be a useful and important tool to increase stroke awareness in their organizations and community. FEL VIT: FIGI (face) EKILIB (equilibrium), LANGAJ (language/speech), VIZYON (vision/eye), IMOBILITE (paralysis/immobility) and TAN/TELEFON (time/call), was identified as the more effective translation of BE-FAST (43% vs 31% FE VIT p=0.37) and best conveyed the message of presenting to a hospital quickly once symptoms of stroke are recognized (48% vs. 28% p=0.035).
Conclusions:
Through an interdisciplinary and diverse Florida Stroke Registry stakeholder membership, we have successfully translated the BE-FAST acronym into a Haitian Creole tool termed FEL VIT. Future directions will measure the impact of this tool on the Haitian Creole speaking community in Florida.