Self-Care Management and Its Associated Factors Among Patient With Hypertension in Nepal

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is currently a common and serious health issue that leads to cardiovascular disease and premature death around the world. Self-care practice is essential for blood pressure control and reduction of hypertension complications of cardiovascular and renal diseases. The objective of this study is to assess the level of self-care management and its associated factors among patients with hypertension. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Internal medicine and Cardiac outpatient department of Kathmandu University Hospital, Dhulikhel on 386 participants diagnosed with hypertension with six months of diagnosis and age of 30-80 years. The participants were recruited conveniently in the study. Face to face interviews with participants using Hypertension Self-Care Profile (HTN-SCP) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used to assess self-care management and perceived social support. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS version 23. Results: The mean age of the participants was 57.39 years. Half of the participants (52.3 %) had poor self-care practice. There is significant association between level of self-care practice with religion (p= <0.001), educational level (p= <0.001), area of residence (p= 0.001), income (p=<0.001) and perceived social support (p= 0.001). Conclusions: The present study revealed that half of the participants had poor self-care practice. Based on the results, the study concluded that good self-care practices and social support influence better self-care practice among hypertensive patients which may eventually help to prevent complications in the coming future.

Role of Perceived Social Support in Adherence to Antihypertensives and Controlled Hypertension: Findings of a Community Survey from Urban Nepal

“…Very few studies from Nepal have reported on the relationship between social support and hypertension control and adherence to antihypertensives. Our finding that hypertensive patients receive high social support is in line with previous studies from Ethiopia 42 and Turkey, 43 but not with studies from Nepal 30 and Malaysia. 44 Previous studies from highincome countries agree with our findings that social support is neither associated with hypertension control 45,46 (Spain/ Korea) nor with adherence to antihypertensives 28 (USA).…”

“…43 The inconsistent findings could be due to discrepancies in how social support was measured. A few studies have used MSPSS 30,43,49 to measure social support but their outcome measure was self-efficacy to hypertension rather than hypertension control while those with hypertension control as the outcome measured social support differently by measuring frequency of visits by friends and family, 45 social support inventory, 28 self-esteem and belongingness 23 and availability of informational, emotional, practical support. 27,46,48 The quality and type of social support received has a bearing on adherence to medication and hypertension control.…”

“…One study from Nepal reported a positive association between social support and self-care for hypertension. 30 In this study, we explored how perceived social support influences medication adherence and control of high blood pressure. The results from this study could serve to inform targeted community-based interventions according to the level of social support received by hypertension patients for controlling hypertension.…”