Adherence to Treatment Regimen and Spousal Social Support in Patients With Hypertension

Hypertension is one of the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Social support is quite effective in patients with hypertension to adhere to their treatment regimens. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between adherence to treatment regimens and the perceived spousal social support by patients with hypertension.

This research was a cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical) study conducted on 239 patients with primary hypertension referred to urban community health centers in Qom City, Iran, in 2019. The patients were recruited by available sampling methods. The data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire, Hill-Bon medication adherence questionnaire, Sherbourne and Stuart social support questionnaire, checklist for assessing and recording systolic and diastolic blood pressure, measuring with the standard handheld barometer. The data were analyzed in the SPSS software v. 20 utilizing statistical tests.

The findings revealed that more than half of the patients adhered to their treatment regimens, and they also benefited from high levels of social support. In addition, the findings demonstrated a significant relationship between treatment regimen adherence and spousal social support (P=0.004).

Spousal social support should be considered an influential factor on treatment regimen adherence and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels of patients with hypertension.