South Asians’ experience of managing hypertension: a grounded theory study

OBJECTIVE: We examined the process that South Asians undergo when managing their hypertension (HTN). METHOD: Using grounded theory methods, 27 community-dwelling English-, Punjabi-, or Hindi-speaking South Asian participants (12 men and 15 women), who self-identified as having HTN were interviewed. Transcripts were analyzed using constant comparison. RESULTS: The core category was “fitting it in”. First, the participants assessed their diagnosis and treatment primarily in the context of their current family/social environment. Participants who paid attention to their diagnosis either fully or partly embraced activities and attitudes associated with successful management of hypertension. However, those who did not attend to their diagnosis, identified other familial/social factors, stress of immigration, and not having symptoms of their disease as barriers. The longer the time since diagnosis of HTN, the more participants came to appropriately manage their HTN. CONCLUSION: Healthcare providers may use this information to enhance their cultural understanding of how and why South Asians manage their HTN.