Internationale Zeitschrift für Herz-Kreislauf-Forschung

Possibilities for Patients with Elevated Blood Pressure to Achieve Blood Pressure Control without Affecting Quality of Life (the PEQ study): A Study Protocol

Eva Drevenhorn, Helena Rosén, Rebecca Gagnemo Persson and Eva I Persson

Several interventions on adherence have been tested in hypertension care but still the number of patients with well controlled blood pressure is not increasing. The aim is to get a deeper understanding of the patients’ reasons for not following their treatment as a base for in collaboration with the patients, developing effective interventions. A mixed methods design is to be used. Patients with hypertension who have considered changing lifestyle will be interviewed individually about their reasons for changing or not changing lifestyle and for taking or not taking medicines. Other patients, both those who do and those who do not have well-controlled blood pressure, treated at health centres and hospital clinics, will be asked to fill in instruments. The Exercise of Self Care Agency instrument gives information about the patients’ ability to perform self-care (change lifestyle) and the SF-36 is about health-related quality of life. Finally, patients will be asked to participate in focus-group interviews about how they want to be treated and what would be of help for them to achieve blood pressure control. From the findings we will create intervention/interventions without negative impact on quality of life together with the patients. These interventions are to be carried out and evaluated in real practice with patients with hypertension and other significant persons or health care personnel that may be involved.