Self-Care Practices among Hypertensive Patients of all Aged Group in Tsum- Nubri Rural Municipality of Gorkha District

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension is now becoming an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries which leads to a major public health problem. It is necessary for an assessment of an individual’s hypertension self-care behavior and its associated factors in order to provide clinicians about important information regarding how to better control hypertension. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the self-care practices among hypertensive patients of all age group and to understand the factors associate with it.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Tsum-Nubri Rural Municipality of Gorkha district among 68 hypertensive patients. Self-care activities were measured using a semi-structured questionnaire with the H-hypertension self-care activity level effects (H-SCALE) and the data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 16. Uni-variate analysis was done and was presented through frequency and percentage whereas, bivariate analysis was by using chi-square test where P value <0.05 was considered to be association between dependent and independent variables

Results: Adherence to the recommended levels of medication was reported to 25%; only 8.8% followed the physical activity level guidelines. None of the participants showed adherence to weight management and low- salt diet recommendation. 51.5% of them were adherence to non-smoking and alcohol abstinence. Marital status (0.005), education level (0.003) and monthly household income (0.003) were significantly associated with adherence to non-smoking. Also, body mass index (0.001) was significantly associated with the physical activity.

Conclusions: Based on study findings, life style modification and regular monitoring must be considered in order to increase good self-care practice