Effectiveness of a Stroke Risk Self-Management Intervention for Adults with Prehypertension

• Main Authors: Hee-Young Song, RN, PhD, Kyoung A Nam, RN, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2015-12-01
• Series: Asian Nursing Research
• Subjects: prehypertension; primary prevention; risk; self-care; stroke
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1976131715000845

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based intervention for prehypertensive adults, to enhance stroke risk awareness and to adopt a preventive lifestyle for primary stroke prevention. Methods: This was a single-blinded, repeated measures quasi-experimental study with 47 participants (23 in the experimental group and 24 in the control group) recruited through convenience sampling from two urban areas. The stroke risk self-management intervention consisted of three weekly, 2-hour, face-to-face sessions and two booster telephone sessions, utilizing strategies to enhance motivation for behavioral changes based on the Self-Determination Theory. All participants completed a pretest, a 1-month and a 3-month post test of stroke risk awareness and preventive lifestyle including blood pressure self-monitoring, healthy diet, and regular physical activity. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, two sample t test, repeated measures analysis of variance, and Friedman test with PASW Statistics 18.0. Results: After the intervention, significant improvements were found in the experimental group for stroke risk awareness, blood pressure self-monitoring and regular physical activity, and were sustained over time. Conclusions: Our preliminary results indicate that the stroke risk self-management intervention is feasible and associated with improvement in self-management of stroke risk factors for primary stroke prevention among a prehypertensive population.