Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Arsi University, Asella, Ethiopia.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Addis Continental Institute of Public Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ethiop J Health Sci. 2022 Mar;32(2):297-306. doi: 10.4314/ejhs.v32i2.10.
Illness representation is an implicit belief system about an illness constructed by an individual to give meaning to their illness. An individual's belief about his/her illness, treatment, and own control are known to influence an individual's ability to cope with the illness and sustain the health-related quality of life. However, how Ethiopians perceive hypertension has not been studied well. This study aimed to assess illness representation and associated factors among hypertensive patients in Central Ethiopia.
A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in four public hospitals in Central Ethiopia. A total of 989 patients participated in the study. The revised Illness Representation Questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. Data were analyzed using the Generalized Estimating Equation with an ordinal logistic regression model and exchangeable working correlation matrix. A P-Value of less than 0.05 was indicated statistical significance.
Overall, 64.3% (95% CI: 61.3, 67.4) of the respondents reported low to moderate Illness representation about their hypertension. Respondents who were housewife [AOR: 1.48, 95% CI= 1.05, 2.08], in older age category 50-64 years [AOR: 1.92, 95% CI= 1.19, 3.09] and ≥ 65 years [AOR: 2.38, 95% CI= 1.43, 3.96], and had no family support [AOR: 1.98, 95% CI= 1.44, 2.73] showed a significant association with Illness Representation.
This study revealed that about two-thirds of hypertensive patients in Central Ethiopia perceived hypertension as a low to moderately threatening illness. Such low illness representation undermines initiation of treatment and effective control of blood pressure. Health care providers need to strengthen strategies that increase their patient's illness representation.
疾病观念是个体构建的一种关于疾病的隐含信念体系，用于赋予疾病意义。个体对自身疾病、治疗方法和自身控制能力的信念，已知会影响个体应对疾病和维持与健康相关的生活质量的能力。然而，埃塞俄比亚人对高血压的看法尚未得到充分研究。本研究旨在评估中埃塞俄比亚高血压患者的疾病观念及其相关因素。
本研究采用在中埃塞俄比亚四家公立医院进行的基于设施的横断面研究。共有 989 名患者参与了这项研究。使用修订后的疾病观念问卷收集相关数据。使用广义估计方程和有序逻辑回归模型以及可交换工作相关矩阵进行数据分析。P 值小于 0.05 表示具有统计学意义。
总体而言，64.3%（95%CI：61.3，67.4）的受访者报告对其高血压的疾病观念为低到中度。家庭主妇（AOR：1.48，95%CI=1.05，2.08）、50-64 岁年龄组（AOR：1.92，95%CI=1.19，3.09）和≥65 岁年龄组（AOR：2.38，95%CI=1.43，3.96）以及没有家庭支持（AOR：1.98，95%CI=1.44，2.73）的受访者与疾病观念显著相关。
本研究表明，中埃塞俄比亚约三分之二的高血压患者将高血压视为低到中度威胁性疾病。这种低疾病观念会阻碍治疗的启动和血压的有效控制。医疗保健提供者需要加强策略，增强患者的疾病观念。
