Patients with high blood pressure- perception of talks with primary care personnel

Högt blodtryck (hypertoni), en riskfaktor för hjärt-kärlsjukdomar, ökar. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur patienter med högt blodtryck upplever samtal med personal i primärvården. En kvalitativ intervjustudie med 10 deltagare där semistrukturerade frågor ställdes resulterade i tre kategorier: ”känsla av trygghet- otrygghet”, ”förståelse av information” och ”drivkrafter och hinder till förändring”. Samtal med personal i primärvården upplevdes positivt. I de fall där upplevelsen av samtal angående levnadsvanor inte upplevdes som positivt var anledningen att informanterna kände att de var tvungna att engagera sig. De flesta intervjuade upplevde att de fått frågor om levnadsvanor i början, när hypertoni konstaterades, men sedan togs det upp mer sällan. Det var oftast läkaren som samtalade med patienten om levnadsvanor. Samtliga hade fått frågor om kostvanor, motionsvanor och tobaksvanor men frågor om alkoholvanor ställdes inte i samma omfattning. Alla informanter hade förändrat sina motionsvanor och majoriteten hade även gjort förändringar i kostvanor. Flera informanter ansåg att de visste för lite om samband mellan levnadsvanor och högt blodtryck. I de fall uppföljning skedde avtog intensiteten med tiden. Önskemål om samtal där orsaken till hypertonin, samband mellan levnadsvanor och hypertoni och vad den enskilda individen kan göra för att förbättra sitt blodtryck framkom.High blood pressure (hypertension), a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases is increasing. The aim of this study was to investigate how patients with high blood pressure perceive talks with primary care personnel. A qualitative study by means of interviewing ten participants was conducted. Semi-structured questions were asked which resulted in three categories of perception: "sense of security versus insecurity", "understanding information" and "incentive versus unwillingness to change ones lifestyle". Talks with primary care personnel were perceived in a positive manner. In those cases where the perception of talks regarding ways of everyday life and daily living habits however, was not as positive, it was mainly because the informants felt they had to get involved on a personal level. A majority of those interviewed pointed to the fact, that they had been asked questions about their living habits at the beginning, when diagnosed with hypertension, but as time progressed these were addressed more infrequently. Most often it was the physician who spoke to the patient about his or her living habits. All participants were asked questions pertaining to their habits regarding diet, exercise and tobacco. Questions about alcohol were not asked to the same extent. All informants had changed their exercise habits and the majority had also changed their eating habits. A number of informants felt they knew too little about the connection between living habits and hypertension. In those cases where a follow-up was done the intensity of the follow-ups decreased with time. Requests for talks emerged, where not only reasons for hypertension but also the connection between living habits and hypertension could be explained, as well as how the individual himself could improve his blood pressure.