Self - Protection Behavior of COVID - 19 among Patients with Hypertension in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province

Abstract

         This was a cross-sectional study which objectives were to study 1) the level of health beliefs, 2) self-protection behaviors from COVID-19, and 3) factors related to self-protection behaviors from COVID-19 among patients with hypertension. The sample consisted of 419 patients with hypertension selected by multi-stage random sampling. Instruments were questionnaire tools which reliability value was 0.835. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression, presenting the adjusted OR, OR, and 95% confidence interval statistics.

         The results showed that most of the health beliefs that were at the highest level were about perceived benefits, interpersonal relationship health motivation, and perceived risk (88.31, 81.62, 78.76, and 69.93 percent respectively). For perceived barriers and perceived risk, most of them were low (77.57% and 53.46%). The level of self-protection behavior was mostly appropriate (54.65%) which had a proportion close to the level requiring improvement (45.35%). In multivariate analysis, it was found that perceived risk exposure was high (AOR = 1.90; 95% CI = 1.19–3.22), the perceived level of severity was high (AOR = 1.96; 95% CI = 1.19–3.22), and the perceived barriers were high (AOR = 1.80; 95% CI = 1.02–3.16), high health motivation (AOR = 1.80; 95% CI = 1.02–3.16), and high interpersonal relationships (AOR = 2.65; 95% CI = 1.44–4.88). There were 1.90, 1.96, 1.80, and 2.65 times more appropriate behaviors for hypertension patients compared to those at the low level.

         Therefore, health beliefs should be applied in order to make patients with hypertension aware of the correct practices. Motivation plays an important role; therefore, it should encourage patients with hypertension to comply with self-prevention measures and raise awareness for hypertension patients to have the correct self-protection behaviors.