The Development of a Community Health Literacy in Hypertension Control under the Concept of Sub-district Quality of Life Management, Nong-Bon Sub-district, Bo-Rai District, Trat Province

Abstract

This participatory action research aimed to develop a community health literacy in hypertension control under the concept of sub-district quality of life management and determine the outcomes of the development at Nong-Bon Sub-district, Bo-Rai District, Trat Province. The participants were 20 quality of life development committee and 80 hypertensive patients. The research instruments included the development of a community health literacy in hypertension control under the concept of sub-district quality of life management assessment form with reliability as .80, the health literacy and hypertension control behavior questionnaire with reliability as .80, and sphygmomanometer. The 4 steps of the research process including team capability building, planning, implementing, and result evaluation were conducted from July, 2020 to January, 2021. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, paired t-test, and independent t-test.

The research results revealed that 1) the developing activities were composed of providing health education, goal setting, sharing care experiences, home visiting, and reflecting the outcomes of development while the patients practice follow the guidebook; 2) after the development, the quality of life development committee had statistically significantly higher mean score of development of a community health literacy in hypertension control under the concept of sub-district quality of life management than that of before the development; 3) after the development, the experimental group had statistically significantly higher mean scores of health literacy and hypertension control behavior than those of before the development and the control group; and 4) after the development, the experimental group had statistically significantly lower mean of systolic and diastolic blood pressure than those of before the development and the control group.

This research suggests that health care providers should apply this research process for the development of program enhancing community capability under the concept of sub-district quality of life management. This will encourage hypertensive patients to have good health literacy and hypertension control behavior.