The Effects of Health Education Program on Blood Pressure Control on the Risk Groups of Hypertension in Khoksanaun Sub-district, Chamni District, Buriram Province

Abstract

The objectives of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effects of
health education program on blood pressure control in the hypertension risk groups in
Khoksanaun sub-district, Chamni district, Buriram province through the application of protection
motivation theory for disease control together with social supports. The samples were
divided into two groups, each of which consisted of 44 purposively selected people. The
study took 12 weeks for which the experimental group received the weekly health education
program. In each week, the program consisted of: self-assessment; lecturing with presentation
media; presenting modeled patients with hypertension and medical treatment; demonstration
and practice on selecting one type of food; making healthy vegetable and fruit juice; doing the
North-eastern local wisdom exercise styles with Pa Khaw Mah cloth instead of bamboo stick;
meditation; relaxing massage; behavior recording; sharing experiences among group members on
their past practices and their commitment on changing dietary, exercise, and stress management;
receiving social supports in week 8-11 from the researcher, village health volunteers, and
community leaders; and the weekly individual household follow-ups. On the other hand, the
controlled group received regular health education program.The data were analyzed using
descriptive statistics, and the dependent t-test and independent t-test statistics at the 0.05
significance level.
The results showed that the experimental group scored the post-test significantly
higher than the pre-test, and significantly higher than the controlled group at the 0.05 level
regarding their perception on the seriousness of hypertension, risk of hypertension, self-efficacy on
preventing hypertension, the perceived self-practice on preventing hypertension, the commitment to
prevent hypertension, and the actual practice to prevent hypertension. Moreover, the systolic and
diastolic blood pressure significantly reduced by 13 and 14 mmHg, respectively, at the 0.05
significance level. The result indicated that the health education program was effective for
improving the disease prevention behaviors and could reduce the blood pressure of the risk
group.