THE EFFECT OF COMMUNITY-BASED INTERVENTION ON SELF-MANAGEMENT OF HYPERTENSION PATIENTS

Abstract

Hypertension is one of the chronic diseases that can cause complications. Patients need a support system in the management of the disease. One of the ways to prevent hypertension complications is by using self-management. Community involvement is integrated into the program to have a social support system in performing self-management. This study aimed to determine the effect of a community-based intervention on the self-management of hypertension patients in one district in West Java. The study method is a quasi-experiment with pre and post-test control group design. The samples consist of 60 respondents taken by using the cluster sampling technique. The subjects were divided into control groups who were given routine treatment from primary health care and intervention groups who were given community visit groups about self-management for four weeks, including health education, counselling, and support. The data were collected using a questionnaire about hypertension self-management sub-variables: diet, smoking, physical activities, stress management, body weight control, alcohol, blood pressure monitoring, and medication. The data analysis techniques were descriptive and inferential statistics using a t-test. The study showed that the total score for self-management after the intervention was significantly higher than the total score before the intervention (M= 131.62; SD = 12.9; p=0.02). The intervention group's self-management total scores were considerably higher than the control group in the 4th week (p=0.005). Community nurses can do one of the interventions by involving the community and forming hypertension volunteer groups that can act as educators to increase hypertension self-management.