Self-Care Agency Capacity in Patients with Diagnostic of High Blood Pressure in a Second Level Institution
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The objective of this study was to determine the self-care ability on 245 hypertensive patients who attended to a secondary level institution in 2010. This was done by developing a descriptive cross-sectional study with the application of the “Assessment self-care ability instrument in hypertensive patients” (Evaluación de la capacidad de agencia de autocuidado en el paciente hipertenso). We found that 81.22% (n = 199) and 8.16% (n = 20) of the patients presented a medium and low Self-care ability respectively, and only the 10.61% (n = 26) of the patients presented a high self-care ability. This would indicate that, although the patient with hypertension has some abilities that let him/her discern about the factors that he/she should control to promote his health and health care, they are insufficient to achieve an adequate adherence to the treatment. In order to have their commitment and participation, it is necessary to have permanent self care behaviors to facilitate the self-awareness, the empowerment of the individual and the development of the capacity to make decisions about their health. The patient's perception of his health is critical to the development of the self care abilities, so it is essential that the nurse intervene in accordance with the individual's capacities to self-care, by promoting educational support to allow the patient to modify his behavior, acquiring knowledge and skill.