Abstract:
The objective of this descriptive study was to explore medication taking behavior of patients with hypertension and to look into perceived susceptibility to hypertension, severity of hypertension, medication taking benefits, the barriers to medication taking; in addition, to examine factors related with the medication taking behavior of hypertensive patients. The participants were patients diagnosed with Primary Hypertension (Essential Hypertension), received high blood pressure medication treatment and were monitored at least six months in the Hypertension Clinic at Ban Luang Hospital, Ban Luang District, Nan Province. There were 246 patients. Data were collected using a set of questionnaires questions that included general information, medication taking behaviors, perceived susceptibility to hypertension, perceived severity of hypertension, perceived benefits and perceived barriers to medication taking. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, and Chi-Square Test. The results revealed that. Overall medication taking behaviors of hypertensive patients were at the good level. The mean scores of perceived susceptibility to hypertension, perceived severity of hypertension and perceived benefits of medication taking were at the high level, whereas the mean scores of perceived barriers to medication taking of hypertensive patients was only at the moderate level. The factors statistically significantly related with medication taking behaviors were education (P-value = 0.001), perceived severity of the disease (P-value = 0.000) and perceived barriers of medication taking (P-value = 0.000).
"