Effectiveness of self-management on adherence to self-care and on health status among elderly people with hypertension

Background: Adherence to self-care is the goal of nursing care for elderly people with hypertension to give them optimal functional health status. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of self-management on adherence to self-care and management of health status elderly people living with hypertension in Pekanbaru City. Design and methods: This study design was quasi-experimental with a pre-post test with a control group. The self-management intervention was provided through four home visits to elderly people living with hypertension with a caregiver. Samples were taken by the consecutive sampling technique, and a total number 134 elderly people were participants. The instruments used were the adherence to self-care questionnaire and the Short Form 12 Health Survey (SF12) for elderly people. Results: The results showed that most of the respondents with hypertension were 60-74 years of age (84.3%), were female (67.9%), of Minang ethnicity (48.5%), had completed primary school (44%), were unemployed (81.3) %), had a family history of hypertension (50%), were non-smokers (52.2%), and had never drunk alcohol (95.5%). The effects of self-management were positive on adherence to caring for themselves (p<0.001) and on health status (p<0.001). The most influencing factor on self-care compliance and health status after being controlled by confound- confounding variables was self-management (p<0.001). Conclusions: This study recommends that nursing interven- interventions on self-management for elderly people with hypertension in the community and should be integrated into the Community Health Nurses’ (Perkesmas) program in Indonesia.