Perception and Self-Care Behaviors for Stroke Prevention Among Patients with Uncontrolled Hypertension at Khlong Thom Hospital, Krabi Province.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the perceptions and self-care behaviors for stroke prevention among patients with uncontrolled hypertension, and to examine the relationship between perceptions and self-care behaviors for stroke prevention. The study was conducted at Khlong Thom Hospital, Krabi Province. A simple random sampling method was used to select 196 patients with uncontrolled hypertension, and patients with both hypertension and diabetes whose hypertension was uncontrolled, as these groups are at risk for stroke. All participants were receiving services at the chronic disease clinic of Khlong Thom Hospital, Krabi Province. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient to test for relationships.
The results showed that overall perceptions for stroke prevention were at a high level. When considering individual aspects, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived benefits of self-care behaviors were at a high level, while perceived barriers to self-care behaviors were at a moderate level. For overall self-care behaviors for stroke prevention, the level was high. When considering individual aspects, self-care behaviors, medication adherence, stress management behaviors, smoking behaviors, and alcohol consumption behaviors were at a high level. However, dietary control behaviors and exercise behaviors were at a moderate level. Furthermore, the study found that perceptions for stroke prevention regarding perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits of self-care behaviors, perceived barriers to self-care behaviors, and overall perceptions were positively and significantly correlated with self-care behaviors for stroke prevention at a statistical significance level of 0.05.