Resti Tito H. Villarino
Hypertension is a serious health issue and a major cardiovascular disease and stroke risk factor. In the Philippines, it is the major cause of mortality resulting from undiagnosed and unmanaged hypertension. Many of those affected are from low-income communities due to lack of access to healthcare services, less health education causes modifiable hypertension factors such as lifestyle changes (e.g. reduction of salty foods, weight loss, reduction of alcohol consumption, and smoking cessation), and difficulties in accessing hypertensive drugs due to distance from pharmacies. The study aims to examine the effects of a lifestyle intervention program using the BASNEF model among non – adherent hypertensive respondents in relation to the introduction of a lifestyle intervention in the management of hypertension. The result indicated that the Phase 1 mean (146.5) of the systolic readings differ significantly from the Phase 4 mean (134.92) of the systolic readings. This result suggested that the BP readings of the participants had a significant decrease based only on Phase 1 and Phase 4. However, since these two means came from phases that were not consecutive, the result, as a whole, did not show a significant decrease or change when analyzed chronologically from one phase to the next. Such lifestyle interventions, alone or preferably in combination, have the potential to reduce BP and/or improve the effectiveness of hypertensive medicines.
Keywords: hypertension, BASNEF model, blood pressure, medication adherence.
