The impact of self-efficacy education on self-care behaviours of low salt and weight setting diets in hypertensive women covered by health-care centers of Dehaghan in 2013

Objective: To examine the impact of self-efficacy-based education on promoting self-care behaviour in low-salt and weight-setting diets for hypertensive women. Method: The quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2013 and comprised hypertensive women registered with healthcare centres in Dehaghan, Iran. The subjects were divided into two equal groups; intervention group and comparison group. For the intervention group, four educative sessions were conducted based on self-efficacy leading to self-care behaviours, while the comparison group did not receive any education. Self-efficacy and selfcare questionnaires data (obtained before intervention, immediately after intervention and 3 months afterintervention) was analysed using SPSS 20. Results: There were 64 subjects divided into two groups of 32(50%) each. The mean age in the intervention group was 51.2±6.86years and 49.1±7.99years in the comparison group. Self-care behaviours of low salt diet (p=0.002) and weight-setting diet (p=0.004) were more significantly seen in the intervention group. The means of systolic blood pressure (p=0.004) and diastolic blood pressure (p 0.001) were significantly reduced in the intervention group. The mean value for body mass index was not the same in the intervention group (p 0.001). Conclusion: Self-efficacy-based education had an impact on self-care behaviours in hypertensive patients.