Effects of Health Literacy and Social Support Program on Hypertension Control Behaviors Among Essential Hypertension Patients, Mueang District, Khon Kaen Province

Abstract

Hypertension is a chronic, noncommunicable disease that is very common, and cases tend to increase every year. If the patient does not receive proper care or has an inability to control blood pressure levels, this will cause complications and lead to death. This research study is quasi-experimental. To study the effects of a health literacy promotion program combined with social support on blood pressure control behavior in patients with hypertensive disease. The cause is unknown. The experimental group of 36 people received a health behavior promotion program. By applying the concept of health literacy combined with social support from the researcher and a comparison group of 36 people living their lives and receiving health services in normal facilities the duration of the activity was 12 weeks. General data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. and analyze the comparison of mean scores with independent t-test and paired t-test statistics at the statistical significance level of 0.05.

            The research results show that after the experiment, the experimental group had a mean score of health literacy and health behavior in controlling high blood pressure that was significantly higher than in the comparison group and before the experiment. The mean blood pressure of the experimental group was lower than the comparison group (systolic: mean_diff 12.90, 95% CI 10.91–15.88, p < 0.001, and diastolic: mean_diff 8.08, 95% CI 6.91–12.43, p < 0.001), and before the experiment, it was statistically significant (systolic: mean_diff 13.25, 95% CI 10.31–18.58, p < 0.001, and diastolic: mean_diff 8.13, 95% CI 6.78–12.73, p < 0.001). This program can promote and support patients with high blood pressure. High blood pressure can continuously change your health habits and help you control your high blood pressure better.