Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Non Pharmacologic Therapy among Hypertensive Patients in Bishoftu, Ethiopia

Abstract

Back ground: Non-drug therapy of hypertension is needed more than ever but its application remains much below optimum. It’s unknown whether patient’s has good knowledge, attitude and practice of non pharmacological treatment to control their hypertension.  Study objective: This study was conducted from March, 2014 to May, 20014 to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of hypertensive patient on life style modification to control hypertension at Bishoftu General Hospital. Methodology: Patients with hypertension (n=60) identified from a cohort of patients attending the outpatients department of  Bishoftu Hospital, a general hospital situated in the town of Bishoftu, and then invited to participate in the study. A prospective cross sectional descriptive study design was used to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of these patients with respect to importance of lifestyle modification in the management of hypertension. This was achieved by either administering a questionnaire or making interview. A descriptive and inferential statistical method was employed to analyze the data. Results: The largest number of respondents fell in the 45-60 year old age groups (48.3%). Females (53.3%) made up a significant majority of the study population. One point seven percent (1.7%) of the respondents ate fried meat regularly, 18.3% consume salt regularly, while 3.3% ate beef, pork and lamb regularly. The significant number of participants led sedentary lifestyles according to the physical activity score, with 33.3% having little or no activity. At the time of the study 70% had blood pressure (BP) levels above 140/90 mmHg with only 51.7% knowing what their normal BP should be. 65% believed that exercise lowers BP and 55.0% believed that a balanced diet is important in controlling hypertension while 85% knew that adding salt to food affects BP. 73.3% believed that alcohol affects blood pressure and also 56.7% believed smoking affects BP. Physician advice provision were assessed; accordingly percentage of patient received advice are: 90% on salt, 58.3% on alcohol, 50% on exercise, 46.7% on smoking and finally 41.7% on balanced diet. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that although patients do receive advice on lifestyle modification, it is not enough and effective in changing patient behavior, knowledge and practice. Therefore, the clinicians should give adequate time to provide relevant information on the value of life style modification in the control of their blood pressure.

Keywords: hypertension, life style, knowledge, attitude, practice