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High blood pressure self-care among hypertensive patients in Iran: a theory-driven study

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 36, pages 445–452 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

High blood pressure is becoming a universal epidemic for both developed and developing countries; it is one of the main public health problems all over the world. This research was conducted to assess blood pressure self-care among hypertensive patients in Iran. This cross-sectional analytic study was conducted on 527 patients with hypertension recruited from Zarandieh, Iran in 2018. Data were gathered using questionnaires assessing socio-demographic information, social support, health belief model (HBM) constructs (perceived benefits to healthy behavior, barriers to healthy behavior, perceived disease threat, self-efficacy to engage in healthy behavior, and cues to action), and self-care activities to address blood pressure. A stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with self-care behaviors. Overall, 512 patients (215 men and 297 women) participated in this study. Participants who were married, and more educated engaged in more self-care behaviors. At least one-half of the patients (47.6%) demonstrated a moderate level of self-care behaviors with a mean score of self-care equal to 9.32 ± 3.6 (out of 18). All the elements of HBM and social support were significant predictors of self-care behaviors and self-efficacy was the strongest predictor, followed (in descending order) by perceived barriers, social support, perceived disease threat, and perceived benefits. Health education based on HBM, enhanced with attention to social support, may help patient enact healthier behaviors to reduce blood pressure.

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Fig. 1: Self‐care behaviors in hypertension patients.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the very helpful participation of the patients; without whose contribution the present study would not have been completed. Also, the authors would like to thank Bahram Armoon for helping us with some parts of data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan of University Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

    Iraj Zareban

  2. Department of Health Education and Promotion, Public Health School, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Marzieh Araban

  3. Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Rohani

  4. Ph.D. of Health Education Promotion, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran

    Mahmood Karimy & Mehran Babanejad

  5. Ph.D. of Health Education Promotion, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Fereshteh Zamani-Alavijeh

  6. Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA

    L. A. R. Stein

  7. Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals, Cranston, RI, USA

    L. A. R. Stein

  8. Rhode Island Training School, Department of Children, Youth & Families, Cranston, RI, USA

    L. A. R. Stein

  9. Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, South Kingstown, RI, USA

    L. A. R. Stein

Authors
  1. Iraj Zareban
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  4. Mahmood Karimy
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  7. L. A. R. Stein
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Contributions

MK collected the data and collaborated on design. IZ, MA, MB, FZA, and MK designed the study and analysis; participated in interpretation of results and writing. LARS assisted with interpretation of results and with writing. MK provided the final version of the paper. All of authors read and approved the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahmood Karimy.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The Ethics Committee of Saveh University of Medical Sciences approved the study protocol (IR. SAVEHUMS. REC.1395.02).

Informed consent

Participation was voluntary, and participants were fully debriefed about the aims and objectives of the study and gave informed written consent.

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Zareban, I., Araban, M., Rohani, M.R. et al. High blood pressure self-care among hypertensive patients in Iran: a theory-driven study. J Hum Hypertens 36, 445–452 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-020-00429-9

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