Table 2.

Examples of narrative text messages (adapted from quotations from African American Veterans sharing stories about how they manage their hypertension).

Hypertension self-management key content area	Direct quotation from unedited video transcripta	Draft text message	Examples of ways that narrative content and Veteran input were used to modify texts	Final
Low sodium diet	“Basically, I don’t have any salt, plain salt in my house. S-salt substitute, seasoning, uh, a low salt, anything with, that’s low salt in there, I use that, you know. It’s not as strong as the salt that I usta take but still crave, you’re given that, all, keep me from craving for regular salt, you know.”	“Annie-BP: Willie says-basically I don’t have any salt, plain salt in my house. Salt substitute, seasoning, anything that’s low salt-I use that.”	Informed by narrative content, we incorporated the concept of craving The Veteran used this concept several times in the narrative to emphasize the role played by salt substitute	“Annie-BP: Willie says-basically I don’t have any plain salt in my house. Salt substitute or seasoning keeps me from craving for regular salt.”
Faith or church or community	“I’m a Veteran tryin’ to give back to a Veteran. If I’m, they-they gave to me, you know, a new, a-await in life, you know, but homeless vets, the Veterans are homeless out here today and my thing is to try to do for our homeless myself at one time and, uh, uh, different things I went through in life, I can basically relate to the ‘nother Veteran because I’ve been through it, too. So that’s what I do now is house homeless vets and then we have pro-, uh, programs for, like posttraumatic stress and we all talk about PTSD.”	“Annie-BP: Willie says: I’m a Veteran trying to give back to a Veteran. I can relate because I’ve been through it too.”	Informed by Veteran consultant feedback, we deleted: I can relate because I’ve been through it too. Our consultant felt this would be understood by another Veteran without needing to be stated.	“Annie-BP: Willie’s doing something he loves to do while helping others in the community. Willie says: I’m a Veteran trying to give back to a Veteran.”
Exercise	“I began to see that it was affectin’ a lotta things in my life so I decided to do somethin’ about it, and that’s why I call it a journey...That’s what I do. I do little stuff that adds up to big stuff...And I do it every day, cuz like I said, there’s not, it’s nothin’ strenuous, you know what I mean?...I do a whole lotta little stuff that I think adds up to somethin’ big, you know...I do, I do a lotta little stuff that adds up to big stuff, you know.”	“Annie-BP: Richard talks about his BP: it was affectin’ a lotta things in my life so I decided to do somethin’ about it. I do a lotta little stuff that adds up to big stuff.”	Informed by Veteran consultant feedback, we adopted standard spelling, while trying to keep the cadence of the Veteran voice. Our consultant observed that professionally typed transcriptions can reflect the bias of the transcriber. Including nonstandard spelling may offend those who personally experienced stigmatization related to their speech patterns.	“Annie-BP: exercise doesn’t have to mean a big lifestyle change. Richard says, I do little stuff that adds up to big stuff and I do it every day.”

^aItalicized text corresponds to sections either paraphrased or directly quoted in text message.