Effects of an Online Brief Advice Program on Health Behaviors and Blood Pressure among Hypertensive Patients at a General Outpatient Clinic

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study with a two-group pretest–posttest design aimed to examine the effects of an online brief advice program on health behaviors and blood pressure levels among patients with hypertension attending a general outpatient clinic. The sample consisted of 60 patients with uncontrolled hypertension, selected through purposive sampling based on inclusion criteria. The participants were divided into an experimental group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30). The experimental group received an online brief advice program developed by Therdsak Dechkong, based on the 3As approaches: 1) Affirmation, 2) Ask, and 3) Advice. The program was delivered via the LINE application, totaling four sessions, each lasting approximately 5 - 10 minutes, conducted once a month over a 12-week period. The control group received routine care. The research instruments included: 1) the brief advice program, 2) a health behavior questionnaire, and 3) a brief advice and blood pressure recording form. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze personal data. Paired t-tests were employed to compare dependent variables within groups and the Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test, and independent t-tests were used to compare differences between groups and the Mann–Whitney U Test, with a statistical significance level of 0.05.

The results revealed that after participating in the online brief advice program, the experimental group demonstrated: 1) a significant increase in mean health behavior scores and a significant reduction in blood pressure levels compared with pre-intervention values (p < 0.05); and 2) The mean health behavior score of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group, while its systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels were significantly lower (p < 0.05).

In conclusion, the developed program was effective in improving health behaviors among patients with hypertension and in supporting blood pressure control. The program can be beneficially implemented in populations with hypertension and can also be adapted for use in service delivery processes for patients with other chronic diseases.