Effect of Web-Based Individual Education on Blood Pressure in Patients with Hypertension

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

Hee-Seung Kim, RN, PhD
School of Nursing, Catholic University, Secho-ku, South Korea
Min-Jeong Park
Department of Nursing, Jecheon, South Korea, Semyung University, Jecheon-City, South Korea

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to know the effectiveness of a web based individual education on systolic blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to know the effectiveness of a web based individual education on diastolic blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

Purpose:

To investigate the effectiveness of a web based individual education on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

Methods: A control group pretest-posttest design was used to assess the effectiveness of the education. Thirty-five patients were randomly assigned to an intervention group and 30 to a control group. The intervention was applied for 8 weeks. The goal of the intervention was to keep blood pressure close to the normal range. The intervention participants of the intervention group were requested to input their blood pressure level, diet, and exercise weekly in the website by cellular phone or wire Internet. The researcher sends optimal recommendations to each patient using short message service by cellular phone and wire Internet weekly.

Results: The intervention group had greater decreases in systolic blood pressure levels than in the control group (P=0.001). Patients in the intervention group had a mean decrease of -8.4mmHg (P=0.001), while those in the control group had a mean increase 2.6 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (P=0.025). Patients in the intervention group had a mean decrease -6.9mmHg in their diastolic blood pressure level compared with a increase of 0.9 mmHg in the control group(P=0.001).

Conclusion: This web-based intervention using short message system of cellular phone improved systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure for 8 weeks in patients with hypertension.