Effectiveness of Theory Based Education on Medication Adherence in Older Adults with Hypertension

Effective control of hypertension is essential step for reducing its complications. ThisQuasi-experimental study tested the effectiveness of theory-based educational intervention to improve antihypertensive adherence behavior among elderly patients.
Subject and One hundred and forty older adults who were taking at least 1 antihypertensive medication were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Intervention-group participants received three 35 min educational sessions based on need assessment and behavioral theory associated with motivational interviewing. Self-administrative questionnaire was used for measuring demographic and psychological variable and anti-hypertension adherence. Data were described using SPSS 17.0 and analyzed by statistical tests such as T test, Mann-Whitney U tests and Wilcoxon.
Average age of participants was 68.15 ± 11.3 y and approximately 55% of patients were female. Average duration of diagnosis of hypertension in patients was 14.8 y. A non-significant difference was noted in baseline regarding outcome variable specially medication adherence (MA) between groups. At the end of the education, the intervention group had significant change in antihypertensive MA than did the control group (P Results showed that theory-based training with motivational interviewing have the potential to improve medication adherence in elderly patients with hypertension.