PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based intervention for prehypertensive adults, to enhance stroke risk awareness and to adopt a preventive lifestyle for primary stroke prevention. METHODS: This was a single-blinded, repeated measures quasi-experimental study with 47 participants (23 in the experimental group and 24 in the control group) recruited through convenience sampling from two urban areas. The stroke risk self-management intervention consisted of three weekly, 2-hour, face-to-face sessions and two booster telephone sessions, utilizing strategies to enhance motivation for behavioral changes based on the Self-Determination Theory. All participants completed a pretest, a 1- month and a 3-month post test of stroke risk awareness and preventive lifestyle including blood pressure self-monitoring, healthy diet, and regular physical activity. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, two sample t test, repeated measures analysis of variance, and Friedman test with PASW Statistics 18.0. RESULTS: After the intervention, significant improvements were found in the experimental group for stroke risk awareness, blood pressure self-monitoring and regular physical activity, and were sustained over time. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results indicate that the stroke risk self-management intervention is feasible and associated with improvement in self-management of stroke risk factors for primary stroke prevention among a prehypertensive population.
Adult ; Behavior Therapy/*education ; Blood Pressure Determination/*methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Motivation ; *Patient Education as Topic ; Prehypertension/*nursing ; Primary Prevention/*methods ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; Self Care/*methods ; Stroke/*prevention & control ; Urban Population/statistics & numerical data