Effect of self-care education on lifestyle modification, medication adherence and blood pressure in hypertensive adults: Randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Self-care management has recently been suggested as an effective approach for secondary prevention of hypertension. This study was conducted to examine whether self-care behaviors could modulate blood pressure levels and also comparing the different training methods of self-care on patients’ adherence and controlling hypertension. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a prospective randomized controlled clinical trial, conducted on 180 hypertensive patients referring to four centers in Isfahan, Iran, between July and December 2013. Block randomization method were applied to divide eligible subjects into four equal groups, including group A in which the patients and their family were educated by cardiology resident about self-care behaviors through eight sessions, group B and group C were obtained self-care education through four pamphlets or eight short message services (SMS), respectively and group D were obtained only usual care of hypertension without any training about self-care management. RESULTS: Increasing vegetable intake and frequency of subject who took antihypertensive medication regularly and the reduction in the frequency of subjects who consumed high salt were significantly more in group A than the others (P = 0.001, P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). The systolic and diastolic blood pressure had significantly more reduction in the group A than the other groups (−8.18 ± 18.3 and − 3.89 ± 4.1; P < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The self-care management education integration into the usual care along with using SMS and other educational materials may improve the efficient and effective adherence strategies.