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Hypertension is a major health issue in rural northern Japan and the cultural, behavioral, and cognitive explanations are unclear. A joint research study was planned between Iwate Prefecture University Faculty of Nursing and UNCW School of Nursing. After jointly planning the study framework, research questions protocols, data collection was conducted at an outpatient clinic in Morioka and community health clinics of Takizawa in Iwate Prefecture, Japan from September through November 2004. Using translated surveys, a total of 206 patients with hypertension participated in this study. The findings from 116 patients of the outpatient clinic, which we have analyzed so far, are shown below.

Participants consisted of 48 men and 68 women, aged 30-90. The majority (52.0%)of participants reported no religion. Average score of the whole Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) was 2.78(SD 0.34). Average score of In the preliminary analysis,women's scores were significantly higher than those of men in HPLP whole (p<0.05), HPLP nutrition(p<0.01), HPLP interpersonal relations(p<0.01), HPLP stress management(p<0.05), and Belief in a Higher Being in healing (p<0.05). Analysis of 100 participants who reported being on at least one medication, the subscale score of HPLP health responsibility was significantly higher in those who never forget medication than those who forget (p<0.05). Knowledge about hypertension showed significant positive correlation with Diastolic blood pressure.(Spearman r=0.298 p<0.01) Belief in a Higher Being and Systolic blood pressure showed positive correlation.( Spearman r=0.219 p<0.05) Belief in a Higher Being and neutral fats showed negative correlation(Spearman r=-0.232, p<0.05). The final results from the total sample, discussions, and implications will be presented at the conference.