Reference no: EM132948064

Introduction

• The burden of hypertension and other noncommunicable diseases is rapidly increasing and this poses a serious threat to the economic development of many nations. Hypertension is a global public health challenge due to its high prevalence and the associated risk of stroke and cardiovascular diseases in adults.
• Globally, hypertension is implicated to be responsible for 7.1 million deaths and about 12.8% of the total annual deaths (World Health
• Organization (WHO), 2018). Africa, among other WHO regions was rated highest with increased prevalence of high blood pressure, estimated at 46% from age 25 years and above in which Nigeria contributes significantly to this increase (Okwuonu, Emmanuel, & Ojimadu 2014; Ekwunife, Udeogaranya, & Nwatu, 2018; WHO, 2018). This is so in spite of the availability to safe and potent drugs for hypertension and existence of clear treatment guidelines, hypertension is still grossly not controlled in a large proportion of patients worldwide.
• Current national recommendations for the prevention and treatment of high blood pressure emphasized non-pharmacological therapy, also termed "lifestyle modification" which includes salt and diet modification. However, there is a dearth of information on the knowledge and practice of salt and diet modification among hypertensive patients attending Nigeria's health institutions (Abubakar et. al, 2017). Hence, poor knowledge of salt and diet modifications, and inability to practice these were one of the identified patient- related barriers to hypertension control (Tesema et.al, 2016). This gap may also be attributed to the type of information or training programmes given to patients on salt and diet modification.
• Therefore, this study might help to improve the knowledge of hypertensive patients on salt and diet modification which in turn may affect its practice thus reducing the death burden, complications and economic cost of poorly controlled hypertension among patients and in the society.

Objective

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of nursing intervention on knowledge and practice of lifestyle modification among hypertensive patients. The following research questions were expected to be answered:

Question 1. What is the pre-intervention knowledge and practice of salt and diet modification among hypertensive patients?

Question 2. What is the post-intervention knowledge and practice of salt and diet modification among hypertensive patients?