Assessing medication adherence and health literacy in hypertension patients

This study was conducted as a descriptive study in order to assessing medication adherence and health literacy in hypertensive patients. The population of the study consisted of 500 patients who had been diagnosed with hypertension for at least 6 months between January and June 2018 in two different centers, and the sample consisted of 348 patients who met the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected using patient information form, Hill-Bone compliance and health literacy scale. Written permission and ethics committee permission was obtained from the institutions. Data were collected by the researcher using face to face interview technique. Data were analyzed by independent samples t test, One-way Anova Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. The mean scores of the patients from the total score of the Hill-Bone Compliance Scale and medical, nutrition and interview sub-dimensions were as follows; 7.15 ± 3.95, 2.89 ± 2.64, 1.76 ± 1.60 and 2.49 ± 1.51. Health literacy scale, the total score averages obtained from the sub-dimension of access to information, understanding information, appraisal / evaluation and application / use are as follows; 51.86 ± 15.17, 10.14 ± 3.78, 18.44 ± 5.77, 14.58 ± 6.11 and 8.68 ± 2.95. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between Health Literacy Scale total scores and Hill-Bone Compliance scale scores (r = -0.396) (p <0.05). As a result, patients' medication adherence and health literacy levels were found to be low. As the health literacy levels of the patients increased, their medication adherence also increased. It is important for the nurses to train and monitör the newly diagnosed patients at regular intervals.