Investigation of medication adherence and disease-related knowledge level of hypertensive patients

INVESTIGATION OF MEDICATION ADHERENCE AND DISEASE-RELATED KNOWLEDGE LEVEL OF HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS, NURSING MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAM WITH THESIS GAZİANTEP 2018 This study was conducted as a descriptive and cross-sectional research to investigation of medication adherence and disease-related knowledge level of hypertensive patients. The research was conducted between July 2017 and March 2018 in Batman Regional State Hospital Emergency, Internal Medicine and Cardiology Service with institutional permissions. The study was done with 260 patients who were diagnosed with hypertension at least three month before, who received medication for hypertension for at least three months, aged 18 years and over, who had no mental and communication problems and volunteer to participate in the study. "Patient Information Form", "Hypertension Knowledge Questionnaire", and "Morisky Hypertension Medication Adherence Scale" were used for the data collection. The statistical analysis of the data obtained from the research was done by using the IBM SPSS Statistics 24 package program and the Correlation analysis, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H tests were used. The mean score of the patients in the Hypertension Medication Adherence Scale was low (7.13 ± 2.10), and 51.2% of the patients were good adherence to the antihypertensive drug treatment. The adherence levels of the patients who were educated about hypertension, had low systolic blood pressure, applied diet, had regular hospital check, measure blood pressure regular and daily, measure their own blood pressure regularly were significantly higher. The mean score of the correct answer of Hypertension Knowledge Questionnaire was determined as 15,10 ± 2,89. When the patients' knowledge level about hypertension increased, there was an increase in their adherence to the antihypertensive drug treatment. Hypertension-related knowledge levels of the patients who had higher level of education, living in urban area, educated about hypertension, had low systolic blood pressure, had regular hospital check, measure blood pressure regular and daily, measure their own blood pressure regularly were significantly higher. As a result; it was determined that education level and blood pressure control behaviors of patients effect medication adherence and disease-related knowledge level of hypertensive patients.