Effect of Leventhal’s self-regulatory intervention on the hypertensive patients’ illness perception and lifestyle: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: The perception of illness may lead to improving the hypertensive patients’ lifestyle, but no study was found in this regard. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of intervention based on Leventhal’s self-regulatory model on the illness perception and lifestyle of patients with hypertension. METHODS: In the present randomized controlled trial study, ninety eligible patients with primary hypertension were randomly assigned to one of the two groups of intervention and control. Patients in the intervention group received five sessions of Leventhal’s self-regulatory intervention, each of 60 min and weekly. However the control group received routine care. The outcomes were illness perception and lifestyle of the patients with hypertension. The Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire and the Lifestyle Questionnaire were administered to assess illness perception and lifestyle before the treatment to establish a baseline and subsequently 12 weeks after the intervention. The collected data were analyzed using statistical IMB SPSS software, version 21. Qualitative data were analyzed using Chi-Square test or Fisher’s Exact test, and the Independent Sample t- test and Paired Sample t- test were used for analyzing quantitative data. RESULTS: Leventhal’s self-regulatory intervention improved subscales of illness perception (p < 0.05) except for emotional representations and consequences. The global mean scores of the hypertensive patients’ lifestyle in the intervention group significantly increased from 102.8 ± 2.3 at the baseline to 112.1 ± 3 post-intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions based on Leventhal’s self-regulatory model could improve the illness perception and lifestyle of patients with hypertension. Trial registration The present randomized controlled trial study was registered on the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials Website (IRCT); ID: IRCT20141222020401N6 on 8/5/2019.