Self-management improvement program combined with community involvement in Thai hypertensive population: An action research

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of a program that utilizes community involvement to improve the self-management strategies among people living with hypertension. Material and Method: Forty-four subjects, aged 35 to 59-year-old, with hypertension in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand, were randomly allocated to either an experimental group (n = 22) or a control group (n = 20). The experimental group attended a program to improve self-management methods based on social cognitive theory (SCT). The program lasted 12 weeks, consisted of 11/2 hours meeting once a week, including group meetings and home visit monitoring. Mann-Whitney U test and Friedman test were employed to analyze the program's effectiveness. Results: After the program, the mean rank of the perceived self-efficacy for the self-management strategies was statistically different between the two groups (p = 0.023). In the experimental group, after the twelve week, the mean rank of perceived self-efficacy and outcome expectancy increased and diastolic blood pressure decreased after the eight week. Conclusion: The program applied social cognitive theory (SCT) to promote self-management techniques, increased the health promoting behavior among hypertensive people.