A study of self-care behavior of hypertensive patients in Somdejpraputthalerdla Hospital, Samutsongkram

Abstract

     The two main objectives of this descriptive research are i) to understand about the hypertension symptoms and the self-care behavior of hypertensive patients, and ii) to compare the self-care behavior of those patients based on the categories of gender, ages, the illness history in their family, the period of illness, education, and participation with the helpful project by Somdej Praputthalerdla hospital, Samutsongkram. The research sample size was calculated by the Yamane formula and resulted a 368 patients as a sample size. The data was collected from the patients between February to May in 2021 by a questionnaire, which consist of 3 main parts including their personal information, their background on hypertension, and their self-care behavior. This questionnaire was proved by 3 specialists. The knowledge-based reliability of the questionnaire was test by KR-20 formula and resulted .77 of the survey reliability. The behavioral level questionnaire was test by Cronbach’s reliability coefficient alpha and resulted .75 of reliability. The data was analyzed its frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation by using t-test One Way ANOVA.

     The results: 1) Most of hypertensive patient well-knowing about the hypertension disease (80.98 %) and have their averaged proper self-care behavior (58.75 %) 2) The different gender, ages, and period of illness of hypertensive patients showed their difference in their self-care behavior significantly (p < .05), whereas the different illness history in their family, education, and participation with the helpful project by the hospital showed no difference in their self-care behavior.