Self-Care Assessment of Patients with Hypertension in Qom City in 2016 (Iran)

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Nutritional awareness and other factors affecting blood pressure, and also perception of self-care in hypertension are important factors for controlling blood pressure. This study aimed to determine the factors affecting self-care in patients with hypertension.   Methods: In this descriptive analytical cross-sectional study, 315 hypertensive patients in Qom city, were selected from patients referring to health centers using multistage sampling. The data collection tool was a two-part questionnaire: demographic information and self-care. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA, and Duncan's test.   Results: The mean age of the patients was 53.59 years and the duration of the disease was 7.54 years. Only 5.1% of the patients had removed salt from their diet during the whole week, and 27.9% of the patients had performed no sport activities during the week; 4.1% had never used their medicines on time; Self-care status was reported to be poor in 27.9% of the subjects, in 68.6% moderate, and in 3.5% good. The mean self-care score was not significantly different from gender and marital status, and family history, but had a significant difference with education, occupation, family history of high blood pressure, and history of receiving educational program (p<0.05). Moreover, there was a significant reverse correlation between age and self-care (r=-0.273, p<0.001) and between the duration of high blood pressure and self-care (r=-0.28, p=-0.041).   Conclusion: According to the results, the status of self-care behaviors in patients with hypertension is not at appropriate level. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the severity and seriousness of these behaviors and possible complications in the educational program with taking into account the above issue.    

Keywords

• hypertension
• self-care
• qom
• iran.