An Education-Counseling Program for Young Prehypertensive Adults

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Preventive Medicine
• Health Education

Background:

• Prehypertension affects young adults and increases cardiovascular disease risk.
• Early intervention is crucial to prevent progression to hypertension.
• Targeted education and counseling can empower individuals to manage prehypertensive states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an 8-week education-counseling program for young prehypertensive adults.
• To assess the program's impact on knowledge, attitudes, health-promoting behaviors, and self-efficacy.
• To determine the program's effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Main Methods:

• A non-equivalent control group, non-synchronized study design.
• Inclusion of 87 prehypertensive individuals (40 experimental, 47 control).
• Pre- and post-intervention assessment of knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and self-efficacy using questionnaires; blood pressure measurement.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in the experimental group for knowledge (p=.003), attitudes (p<.001), behavior (p<.001), and self-efficacy (p<.001).
• Significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (p<.001) in the experimental group compared to controls.
• No significant difference in diastolic blood pressure between groups (p=.473).

Conclusions:

• The 8-week education-counseling program effectively enhanced key health-related factors in young prehypertensive adults.
• The program demonstrated efficacy in improving systolic blood pressure, a critical indicator for hypertension prevention.
• This intervention is a viable strategy for preventing the progression from prehypertension to hypertension.