Effect of Motivational Interviewing on Adherence to Treatment in Patients with Hypertension

Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases all around the world and majority of hypertensive patients suffer from hypertension problems due to lack of treatment adherence. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of motivational interviewing on adherence to treatment in patients with hypertension and its comparison with standard cares. This randomized clinical trial was done during February to October 2014. In total, 140 of hypertensive patients were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling method from two urban health centers located in Gorgan City, Iran, with regards to the inclusion criteria and allocated randomly into two groups; motivational interviewing (70 participants) and control (70 participants). Data collecting instruments were demographic questionnaire (personal information, laboratory indices and clinical symptoms), general self-efficacy scale and treatment adherence questionnaire of patients with hypertension. Data were analyzed in SPSS 18 software using paired T and Independent T tests. Motivational interviewing increased total score and the mean score of all dimensions of the adherence questionnaire (except for weight control and stress reduction) (p<0.05). After 6 month, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure also decreased significantly in the motivational interviewing group (p<0.05). Motivational interviewing is likely beneficial to improve and promote medication adherence and blood pressure control in patients with hypertension.