Study on illness perceptions of Chinese rural-dwelling adults with hypertension: A descriptive study

The aim of this study was to describe the levels of illness perception and identify interrelations among the variables of illness perception, demographic, and health-related characteristics in a sample of rural Chinese adults with hypertension (HTN).

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study using descriptive and correlation analysis.

It included 163 people diagnosed with HTN for at least 3 years who lived in two rural villages in Zhejiang Province of mainland China during 2014-2015.

Illness perception was measured by the Chinese Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised. Demographic and illness characteristics were collected by the researcher. Weight, height, and blood pressure (BP) were, respectively, measured by calibrated scale and digital sphygmomanometers.

The findings showed that the BP control rate was 28.80% in the village. The highest average item score found in timeline (3.98 ± 0.76) and control (3.29 ± 0.67) subscales indicated that rural Chinese adults believe in the chronicity and controllability of HTN. Negative illness representation presented the lowest mean item score (2.64) suggesting that the participants neither perceive symptom variation of the illness nor their illness as serious. Interrelations existed among the illness perception variables with variation from that in other previous study. The cause of HTN was attributed to balance factors, psychological factors, risk factors, and cultural factors in sequence. Age, education, body mass index, and household annual income were correlated with illness perception.

These findings suggested that misconceptions about HTN perception existed among rural adults in the villages. Comprehensive health education program is needed to increase rural adults' knowledge and management of HTN.