Effect of educational intervention based on social cognitive theory on self-care behaviors of high blood pressure patients

High blood pressure is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in developed and developing countries. Controlling blood pressure requires lifelong self-care behaviors. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intervention based on social cognitive theory on self-care behaviors of patients with hypertension.

The target population of this quasi-experimental study were patients with high blood pressure in health centers of Farsan. Participants were randomly divided into two groups of intervention (90 people) and control (90 people). Data were collected using the self-care activity and social cognitive theory questionnaires before and 3 months after the educational intervention. The training program were held in 12 sessions with 60 to 90 minutes duration, using lecture, group discussion, practical demonstrations, questions and answers, and video/film methods, as well as the use of a WhatsApp group for the intervention group. Data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 22 software.

After the educational intervention, the mean scores of knowledge, social cognitive theory constructs, and self-care behaviors in the intervention group increased significantly compared to that of the control group. Results of the regression analysis showed that more changes in the constructs of observational learning, self-regulation, and outcome evaluation results in the better self-care behavior in patients with hypertension.

In interventional studies based on social cognitive theory, in order to improve the self-care behaviors of patients with hypertension, special emphasis should be placed on observational learning, self-regulation, and outcome assessment costructs.