Factors in relation with self- regulation of Hypertension, based on the Model of Goal Directed behavior in Yazd city(2006)

Hypertension is a chronic asymptomatic disease which is one of the most public health problems afflicting many of people over 35 years old in the world. The disease is the most important cause of all cardiovascular diseases, stroke, heart attack, renal disease, etc. It is also the primary contributor to disability and mortality, which is usually incurable but it must be managed. Management of the disease requires a certain degree of self-regulation, which is defined as the mental and physical processes that manage a person in order to achieve a goal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related to hypertension self-regulation based on the model “goal directed behavior”. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 200 patients referring to health centers of Yazd Township, who were selected in two stages. First, the health centers were selected through cluster sampling in Yazd Township and then the patients were selected by means of simple sampling methods in the health centers. Data was gathered using a questionnaire whose reliability and validity were approved on the part of experts; and its alpha was 0.83 (a=0.83).The obtained data was analysed by means of the statistical software SPSS.WIN (11.5) using coefficient correlation, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and regression tests. Out of the 200 subjects, 45.5% were men and 54.5% women. Mean years of being hypertensive was 8.7 ±7.6. About 61.5% of the patients indicated that their reason for referring to health centers was to reduce their blood pressure and 35.5% wanted to maintain their current blood pressure. There was a significant statistical relationship between all the variables of Model of Goal Directed Behavior except one (predicted negative emotions) (P<0.001). Moreover, there was a significant relationship between hypertension self-regulation of the cases and all the variables with the sex of the patients (P<0.0001). The results of this study showed that the Model of Goal Behavior can explain over 52% of hypertension self-regulation cases. Therefore, this Model can be a basic Model for educational intervention to decrease and control hypertension in patients.