Effects of a Hypertensive Complication Prevention Behaviors Developing Program in Non Narai District, Surin Province

Abstract

Hypertension is a non-communicable disease and the leading cause of death in Thailand. Its prevalence continues to rise, primarily due to unhealthy lifestyle habits. The objectives of this quasi-experimental research were to compare hypertensive complication prevention behaviors and health status, including blood pressure, body mass index, and waist circumference, of the experimental group between before and after the experiment, and between the experimental group and the comparison group after the experiment. The sample consisted of essential hypertensive patients, aged 35–69 years, who had uncontrolled blood pressure. Patients from Non Narai Hospital who met the inclusion criteria were selected by simple random sampling to form the experimental group. Patients from Rattanaburi Hospital with similar age and systolic blood pressure were selected to form the comparison group, with 30 persons in each group. The program was conducted over 4 weeks. The experimental tools were a hypertensive complication prevention behaviors developing program based on the PRECEDE-PROCEED model, hypertensive complication prevention behaviors including eating behaviors and medicine behaviors, both parts of which had CVI of 1.00, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ​​of 0.71 and 0.86, respectively. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANCOVA.

The results found as follows: after the experiment, the scores for eating behaviors and medicine behaviors of the experimental group were significantly higher than before the experiment and the comparison group; and systolic blood pressure of the experimental group was significantly lower than before the experiment and the comparison group. Also, diastolic blood pressure of the experimental group was significantly lower than before the experiment, and average waist measurement of the experimental group was significantly higher than the comparison group (p 0< 0.05). These findings underscore the potential benefits of health literacy programs in supporting behavior change among individuals at risk of hypertension. Health literacy should be promoted among patients with chronic diseases, as it influences self-care behaviors and may help reduce disease complications.