Health Beliefs and Self-care Behaviors for Controlling Hypertension in Older People: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore the health beliefs and self-care behaviors for controlling hypertension among older people. The Health Belief Model was used for the conceptual framework. Eight informants were recruited by a purposive sampling following set inclusion criteria. A semi-structured interview guide was employed for data collection. Thematic analysis was employed to identify the health beliefs and self-care behaviors for controlling hypertension and uncovered four themes with another nine subthemes, as follows: 1)fear of illness (fear of getting sick leads to self-care; fear of burdening children and grandchildren); 2) lack of knowledge (health care providers gave broad information, reducing salt intake not emphasized, actual behavior in reducing high sodium food because of eating habits, doing exercise and physical activity because of the love of doing it); 3) motivation from receiving benefits (receiving benefits from exercise; doing it for loved ones); and 4) social influence (influence from peer pressure, influence from social activities). The findings provide an important basis for developing programs to modify the behaviors of older patients with hypertension to better control their blood pressure. Future research should study older patients with this condition in the community to obtain more comprehensive data which would be useful in promoting self-care for better blood pressure control.