Correlates of self-care behaviors for managing hypertension among Korean Americans: A questionnaire survey

Background: While self-care behaviors have been documented as one of the main determinant of hypertension control, studies investigating correlates of self-care behaviors have been rare regarding hypertension among minority population. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with self-care behaviors for hypertension using a community sample of Korean Americans. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional design. Settings: Community setting in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Participants: The sample included 445 middle-aged (40-64 years of age) Korean Americans with hypertension (systolic BP >= 140 and/or diastolic BP >= 90 mmHg; or taking antihypertensive medication). Methods: Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, a variety of personal (age, gender, marital status, employment status, years in U.S., duration of hypertension, hypertension knowledge, hypertension belief, and hypertension control self-efficacy) and environmental (social support) factors were examined in relation to hypertension self-care behaviors, including medication-taking, exercise, diet, and weight control. Results: The model explained 18.0% of the total variance in self-care scores. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that personal factors contributed significantly to the explanatory model, whereas social support did not add much. Examination of individual regression coefficients showed that Korean Americans who were older, who had longer duration of hypertension, and who had higher hypertension control self-efficacy were more likely to have higher self-care scores. Conclusions: Hypertension control self-efficacy emerged as the most significant contributing factor to hypertension self-care. Future intervention programs should focus on improving hypertension control self-efficacy as a modifiable personal factor. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.