Self-Awareness as A Tool for Reduction of Blood Pressure for Patients with Hypertension

Abstract

Abstract: Hypertension (HTN) is the leading and most important modifiable risk factor for heart diseases, stroke, renal diseases, and retinopathy. It is a common health problem in Egypt, its rates of awareness, treatment, and control are low. Efforts to control HTN have included increasing patients’ knowledge and awareness, especially about the risks associated with uncontrolled blood pressure. The main objective of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of self-awareness of hypertension as a tool for reduction of blood pressure. The research hypothesis; self-awareness of hypertension has a positive effect on the reduction of blood pressure. The study subjects consisted of 87 patients diagnosed with hypertension at the cardiac outpatient clinic at Ain Shams University Hospital. The tools of data collection were; 1) Structured interviewing questionnaire; to assess demographic characteristics and patient’s health-related data, 2) Patient's knowledge assessment sheet, and 3) Hypertension self-awareness scale. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences for patients under study in relation to the patient's level of knowledge, self-awareness, and reduction of blood pressure throughout program implementation. In conclusion, improvement in the level of knowledge, self- awareness and reduction of blood pressure in patients under study was evident after improving self- awareness of hypertension. Recommendation: context studies with a wider scope and a larger sample size are recommended to confirm the results of this study.