WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Manju V.*

ABSTRACT

Background: Hypertension is an important public health issue[1] and contributes to the incidence of stroke, CAD, atherosclerosis, stroke, nephropathy, peripheral vascular disease, aortic aneurysm and heart failure. Strong research evidence has conclusively illustrated that lifestyle modification are effective in lowering BP and reducing related risk factors at little overall cost.[2] In this regard, lack of knowledge and poor attitude toward lifestyle modification has been a major setback. Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude on lifestyle modification among hypertensive patients and find the association between knowledge and attitude with socio-demographic variables. Methods: Quantitative descriptive approach with survey design was selected. Non probability purposive sampling was used. 60 sample sizes were taken. The structured questionnaire was used to collect the socio-demographic data and a structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge and 5 point Likert scale to assess the attitude of the hypertensive patients regarding life style modification. Results: The findings revealed that 16.7% have poor knowledge on lifestyle modification among hypertensive patients, 65% have average knowledge and 18.3% of them have good knowledge. The level of attitude of hypertensive patients on life style modification shows that 13.3% of them have unsatisfactory attitude, 53.4% have moderately satisfactory attitude and 33.3% of them are having satisfactory attitude. The correlation between knowledge and attitude of hypertensive patients regarding life style modification shows significant, positive, moderate correlation. The researcher prediction says when knowledge increases their attitude score also increases moderately. Conclusion: In the current study, knowledge toward lifestyle modification among hypertensive patients was average and with moderately satisfactory attitude. Concerted strategies are required to gain more knowledge and to attain satisfactory attitude toward lifestyle modification measures in this population group.