Factors Influencing Self-Care Practices to Hypertension Management in Women Aged 40 and above Accessing Health Care Services at Kafue General Hospital

Introduction: Hypertension affects women in all phases of life and ranks among the most common chronic medical condition characterized by a persistent elevation in the arterial pressure. More than one billion adults worldwide have hypertension with up to 45% of the adult populace being affected with the disease. The high prevalence of hypertension is consistent across all socio-economic and income strata, and the prevalence rises with age accounting for up to 60% of the population above 60 years of age. The main objective of this study is to assess the “factors influencing self-care practices of hypertension in women aged 40 and above accessing health care services at Kafue General Hospital”. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study design where 200 respondents aged 18 years and above participated in the study. Participants were randomly selected. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. SPSS computer software package version 26.0 was used to analyze data. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used to test the significance of the association between Knowledge on Hypertension, Attitude towards self-care practices among Hypertensive women. A 95% confidence interval and the P value of 0.05 were used to ascertain the degree of significance. Results: Majority of the respondents 66% demonstrated good self-care practices. Slightly more than half of the respondents, 56%, had low knowledge levels. Majority 58% had a positive attitude towards self-care practices. Chi-square test on knowledge (P-value: 0.013) and P < 0.05 indicates significance between self-care practices and knowledge levels of Hypertensive women and attitude (P-value: 0.025), P > 0.05 indicates that there is an association between self-care practices and attitude of Hypertensive women. On multivariable logistic analysis, patients who had high knowledge levels were 1.939 times more likely to achieve good self-care practices compared to those who had low knowledge levels, and this effect was significant (OR: 1.939, CI: 0.541 - 6.945, P < 0.013). Further analysis showed that patients who had a positive attitude were 4.208 more likely to achieve good self-care practices compared to those who had a negative attitude and this effect was highly significant (OR: 4.208, CI: 1.198 - 14.779, P < 0.025). Conclusion: The study has established presence of good self-care practices and low knowledge levels on self-care practices among Hypertensive women. This does not support the initial assertion that Hypertensive women have good self-care practices of Hypertension as they did not comply with health care advice. The findings have also demonstrated a positive attitude towards self-care practices among Hypertensive women, being the key component in the hypertension man-agement.