Abstract
Aim
In hypertension management and therapy adherence, the level of health literacy is a significant factor likely to contribute to improved self-care management by patients. This research was conducted to identify the relationship between health literacy and self-care management in patients diagnosed with hypertension.
Subject and methods
A total of 210 patients with hypertension who presented to the family practice polyclinic of a training and research hospital and the family health center affiliated with this hospital were included in this descriptive study. The research data were collected with the patient identification form, the Self-Care Management Processes-Guarding Scale, and the Health Literacy Scale.
Results
The mean age of patients was 53.80±8.41 years, and 70% were female. Statistically significant differences were identified in patients’ mean Self-Care Management Processes-Guarding Scale scores according to age, employment status, and status of cigarette smoking; in addition, statistically significant differences were found in patients’ mean Health Literacy Scale scores based on age, marital status, education level, employment status, economic status, attention to diet, and regular engagement in physical exercise. Moreover, a positive correlation was identified between patients’ Self-Care Management Processes-Guarding Scale and Health Literacy Scale scores (P < .05).
Conclusion
Efforts should be made to identify hypertensive patients’ self-care management and health literacy levels. It is recommended that hypertension training course material be prepared based on patients’ health literacy levels to offer in the context of primary healthcare services to develop self-care management.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aktan GV, Özdemir F (2020) Health literacy levels of women in climacteric period. Cukurova Med J 45(1):352–361. https://doi.org/10.17826/cumj.641709 (Original work published in Turkish)
Aras Z, Temel Bayık A (2017) Evaluation of validity and reliability of the Turkish version of health literacy scale. Florence Nightingale Nursing J 25(2):85–94. https://doi.org/10.17672/fnhd.94626 (Original work published in Turkish)
Aytap F, Özer Z (2021) The relationship between risk of depression levels and disease management individuals with chronic diseases and affecting factors. Turkish J Family Med Primary Care 15(2):212–222. https://doi.org/10.21763/tjfmpc.788814 (Original work published in Turkish)
Bakan G, İnci FH (2021) Treatment compliance and health literacy in patients with hypertension. J Cardiovasc Nurs 12(28):81–87 (Original work published in Turkish)
Bakoğlu E, Yetkin A (2000) Evaluation of self-care strength of patients with hypertension. J Cumhuriyet Univ School Nursing 4(1):41–49 (Original work published in Turkish)
Bayülgen MY, Gün M, Erdoğan S (2021) Self-care management of patients with chronic obsructive lung disease and assessment of affecting factors them. Eurasian J Health Sci 4(2):106–112 (Original work published in Turkish)
Borges FM, Silva AR, Lima LH, Almeida PC, Vieira NF, Machado AL (2019) Health literacy of adults with and without arterial hypertension. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem 72(3):646–653. https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2018-0366
Bosworth HB, Olsen MK, Grubber JM, Neary AM, Orr MM, Powers BJ, Oddone EZ (2009) Two self-management interventions to improve hypertension control: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 151(10):687–695
Chajaee F, Mostafavi F, Pirzadeh A, Hassanzadeh A (2018) Relationship between health literacy and hypertension knowledge among women in Isfahan province, Iran. Electron Phys 10(3):6470–6477. https://doi.org/10.19082/6470
Chari R, Warsh J, Ketterer T, Hossain J, Sharif I (2014) Association between health literacy and child and adolescent obesity. Patient Educ Couns 94(1):61–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2013.09.006
Darvishpour J, Omidi S, Farmanbar R (2016) The relationship between health literacy and hypertension treatment control and follow-up. Caspian J Health Res 2(1):1–8. https://doi.org/10.18869/acadpub.cjhr.2.1.1
Delavar F, Pashaeypoor S, Negarandeh R (2020) The effects of self-management education tailored to health literacy on medication adherence and blood pressure control among elderly people with primary hypertension: A randomized controlled trial. Patient Educ Couns 103(2):36–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2019.08.028
Hançerlioğlu S, Aykar FŞ (2018) Validity and reliability of Turkish version of the selfcare management process in chronic illness. Gümüşhane Univ J Health Sci 7(1):175–183 (Original work published in Turkish)
Huffman DM (1987) Development of an instrument to measure use of self-care management processes-guarding (SCMP-G). Unpublished master’s thesis, Lousiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans
Hutchison JA, Kuhn L, Warren-Findlow J, Dulin M, Tapp H (2014) The association between health literacy and diet adherence among primary care patients with hypertension. J Health Disparities Res Pract 7(2):109–126
Ilhan N, Gencer S, Özdemir Ö, Maviyildiz S (2020) The relationship between health literacy and illness self-care management in Turkish patients with cancer. Oncol Nurs Forum 47(3):73–85. https://doi.org/10.1188/20.ONF.E73-E85
Jones LC (2001) Measuring guarding as a self-care management process in chronic illness: The SCMP-G. In: Strickland OL, Dilorio C (eds) Measurement of nursing outcomes. Springer Publishing Company, New York, pp 150–158
Lima JP, Abreu DP, Bandeira ED, Brum AN, Garlet BB, Martins NF (2020) Functional health literacy in older adults with hypertension in the family health strategy. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem 73(3). https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2019-0848
Mancia G, Fagard R, Narkiewicz K et al (2013) ESH/ESC Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension. The Task Force for the management of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Eur Heart J 34:159–2219
Michou M, Panagiotakos DB, Costarelli V (2018) Low health literacy and excess body weight: A systematic review. Cent Eur J Public Health 26(3):234–241. https://doi.org/10.21101/cejph.a5172
Mills KT, Stefanescu A, He J (2020) The global epidemiology of hypertension. Nat Rev Nephrol 16(4):223–237. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-019-0244-2
Murphy K, Chuma T, Mathews C, Steyn K, Levitt N (2015) A qualitative study of the experiences of care and motivation for effective self-management among diabetic and hypertensive patients attending public sector primary health care services in South Africa. BMC Health Serv Res 15(1):2–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-015-0969-y
Öncü E, Vayısoğlu SK, Güven Y, Aktaş G, Ceyhan H, ve Karakuş E. (2018) The evaluation of individuals with hypertension on the management of chronic disease and its relationship with health literacy. Anatolian J Family Med 1:45–70.  https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/insan/issue/52665/694112
Özdelikara A, Taştan A, Atasayar BŞ (2020) Assessment of self-care management and compliance in chronic diseases. Samsun J Health Sci 5(1):42–49 (Original work published in Turkish)
Park NH, Song MS, Shin SY, Jeong J, Lee HY (2018) The effects of medication adherence and health literacy on health-related quality of life in older people with hypertension. Int J Older People Nursing 13(3):e12196. https://doi.org/10.1111/opn.12196
Pekel Ö, Arık H, Sözmen MK, Ünal B, Kalaça S (2013) Changes in blood pressure levels in Turkey. Turk Public Health 11:129–148. https://doi.org/10.20518/tjph.173079
Persell SD, Karmali KN, Lee JY, Lazar D, Brown T, Friesema EM, Wolf MS (2020) Associations between health literacy and medication self-management among community health center patients with uncontrolled Hypertension. Patient Preference Adherence 14:87–95. https://doi.org/10.2147/ppa.s226619
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health (2020) Turkey's Health Literacy Level Measured. https://sggm.saglik.gov.tr/TR,57003/turkiyenin-saglik-okuryazarligi-duzeyi-olculdu.html. Accessed 12 Mar 2022
Salant P, Dillman DA (1994) How to conduct your own survey. Wiley, New York
Shi D, Li J, Wang Y, Wang S (2017) Association between health literacy and hypertension management in a Chinese community: a retrospective cohort study. Intern Emerg Med 12(6):765–776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-017-1651-7
Sorensen K, Van den Broucke S, Pelikan J et al (2013) Measuring health literacy in populations: Illuminating the design and development process of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q). BMC Public Health 13:948
Tanriöver MD, Yildirim HH, Ready FND, Çakir B, Akalin HE (2014) Health literacy research. Sağlık-Sen Publications 6:42–47. https://www.sagliksen.org.tr/cdn/uploads/gallery/pdf/8dcec50aa18c21cdaf86a2b33001a409.pdf
Toci E, Burazeri G, Sorensen K, Jerliu N, Ramadani N, Roshi E, Brand H (2013) Health literacy and socioeconomic characteristics among older people in transitional Kosovo. British J Med Med Res 3:1646–1658
Turkey Ministry of Health (2015) Periodic health examinations and screening tests recommended in family medicine practice. Online Publication. https://hsgm.saglik.gov.tr/depo/birimler/Toplum_Sagligi_Hizmetleri_ve_Egitim_Db/Dokumanlar/rehberler/psm_2019.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2022
Yulu N (2020) Examining the relationship between adolescents' health literacy and health perception, attitude and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Ankara University Institute of Health Sciences Master's Thesis. (Original work published in Turkish)
World Health Organization (2021) Hypertension. Online Publication. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension. Accessed 15 Feb 2022
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Study conception and design: KE, MK. Data collection: KE. Data analysis and interpretation: KE, MK. Drafting of the article: KE, MK. Critical revision of the article: KE, MK
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Before the research, permission was received from the Healthcare Department of Istanbul Province (No. 2021-14) and the ethical endorsement was obtained from Hamidiye Scientific Research Ethics Committee of the Health Sciences University of Turkey (No. 2021-21/78).
Consent to participate
Consent was obtained from all participants.
Consent for publication
Not applicable
Conflicts of interest
No conflict of interest has been declared by the authors.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Esen, K., Kolcu, M. The relationship between health literacy and self-care management in patients with hypertension attending primary healthcare centers. J Public Health (Berl.) 32, 175–183 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-022-01801-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-022-01801-4