Hip Hop music helps to effectively educate children about stroke.

Hip Hop music helps to effectively educate children about stroke.

Music is processed in all areas of the brain. And it has the ability to stimulate brain functions like controlling movement, cognition, speech, emotions and the senses. Many researchers have supported the use of music therapy post-stroke. In addition, they found that combination therapy is more effective than medication alone. The new study has found that Hip Hop music helps to effectively educate children about stroke.

What is a stroke?

Stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain results in cell death.  This causes the part of the body that the injured brain controls to stop working. The stroke is a “brain attack” and can happen to anyone at any time. Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 800,000 people have a stroke each year. That equates to about one person every 40 seconds. Use FAST signs to remember and recognize stroke;

  • F: Face drooping. Ask the person to smile, and see if one side is drooping.
  • A: Arm weakness. Ask the person to raise both arms.
  • S: Speech difficulty. Is it slurred or jumbled?
  • T: Time to call 9-1-1 right away. (Medical Emergency service)

Hip Hop music helps to effectively educate children about stroke.

The enhancement of stroke awareness is very critical. However, it is limited due to the high expenses of promoting, the absence of social fitting and low entrance into ethnic minority populace, it gets constrained.

New research by the American Heart Association suggests a unique intervention for stroke awareness. Scientists use hip-hop music with stroke education lyrics to increase stroke awareness for economically-disadvantaged, minority children and their parents.

Researchers discovered a 3-hour multimedia stroke awareness intervention called “Hip-Hop Stroke”. In this study, more than 3,000 students from 4th through 6th graders from 22 public schools in New York City were enrolled. Additionally, a group of 1,144 of their parents also participated.

1. It has found that this 3-hour program has increased optimal stroke knowledge from 2 percent of children before the program to 57 percent right after. Three months later, 24 percent of children retained that knowledge.

2. Moreover, they found that only 3 percent of parents could identify all stroke symptoms in the FAST acronym before the intervention, 20 percent could immediately after and 17 percent could three months later.

3. Four of the youngsters put practically speaking what they realized in the mediation and called 911 for genuine stroke side effects, including one who overruled a parent’s proposal to keep a watch out.

  • The program was a culturally-tailored multimedia presentation. And it is particularly effective among minority youth or other groups among whom Hip Hop music is popular.
  • One unique aspect of the program is that the children who receive the program in school are used as ‘transmission vectors’ of stroke information to their parents and grandparents at home.
  • A simple 9-1-1 call can save someone’s life. Therefore, calling an ambulance immediately when stroke symptoms start could increase the rate of optimal stroke treatment by 24%.
  • Williams has been conducting this study for over the past five years. And he is delighted by the results and hence hopefully the free program will soon be used around the country.

“The lack of stroke recognition, especially among blacks, results in dangerous delays in treatment,” said Olajide Williams. He further added that “Because of those delays, only a quarter of all stroke patients arrive at the hospital within the ideal time for clot-busting treatment.”

Dr. Olajide Williams is the Founder of Hip Hop Public Health. He currently serves Chief of Staff of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, and Associate Professor of Neurology at Columbia University. He is also known as the Hip Hop Doc.

Also, read Why stroke often happens in the bathroom? 

It is very important for people to start recognizing the symptoms of stroke and know what to do in this kind of situation.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *