Development of a Blood Pressure Control Model in Hypertensive Patients through Community Participation in Pueai Noi District, Khon Kaen Province

Abstract

This study is an action research. The research objective was to develop a model of blood pressure control in hypertensive patients through community participation in Pueai Noi District, Khon Kaen Province. The research procedure was divided into 3 phases: (1) situation analysis phase, (2) action phase, and (3) evaluation phase. The representative samples consisted of 47 patients with uncontrolled hypertension, health personnel, caregivers, stakeholders and 28 community leaders. While the research benefited from quantitative and qualitative data, the data were analyzed by using content analysis and descriptive statistics, including percentage, mean, standard deviation and Paired t-test, 95% CI, and p-value. The results showed that the majority of patients were 63.38% female, and the average age is 54.62 years (SD=5.68), 76.60% of the samples are married, 74.47% graduated at the primary level of education, and 61.70% are employees. The duration of hypertension among the patients had a mean of 6.59 years (SD=5.72). The outcomes of the development of a model for blood pressure control in hypertensive patients by community participation were as follows: (1) availability of a hypertensive control system in the community that facilitated blood pressure control principles according to preventive medicine, lifestyle medicine, family medicine and participation of the community; (2) establishment of network partners; the committee of hypertension controls at district level to improve the quality of life of patients, and (3) the patients gained knowledge and skills on self-care for hypertension. The results also demonstrated that receiving health services from medical personnel in accordance with the patient’s lifestyle had some positive influence; the average before and after the model development showed that the systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, moderate stress level, and high stress level decreased with statistical significance (p<0.001); and the mean score level of knowledge and antihypertensive behaviors had increased with statistical significance (p<0.001).