Health beliefs of hypertensive patients in a family medicine residency program.

This paper presents the results of a survey of the hypertensive patient population in a university family medicine practice to determine health beliefs, patient perceptions of the severity of their condition, stated levels of compliance to drug regimens, frequency of drug side effects, and frequency of physician discussions of drug side effects and diet. Health beliefs were then associated with diastolic hypertension and increase in medication dosage over a four-month period. Results of the survey sharpen the focus of patient education efforts by the family physician on specific attitudes, beliefs, and treatment issues which are most appropriate for the hypertensive patient. The physician may improve his/her management of hypertensive patients by: (1) anticipating prevalent myths and misconceptions which patients have concerning hypertension; (2) alleviating patient anxiety by stressing that control of blood pressure decreases the likelihood of complications; (3) effectively communicating to each patient the current status of his/her condition at each visit; and (4) initiating discussion of side effects through direct questioning for those effects most frequently seen.