Abstract:

Health beliefs have long been associated with a lower risk of various diseases, better compliance with medication and less likelihood of relapsing, and Hypertension is a major global public health problem due to its high prevalence with vascular disease, premature death, stroke, renal diseases, and retinopathy. This study aimed to study the health beliefs of elderly male members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Nigeria as they relate to hypertension lifestyle and prevention behaviors. A total of 372 questionnaires were distributed to collect the information using a stratified random sampling technique. A total of 357 questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. The study revealed that the majority of elderly male members (72.3%) did not know their family member(s) with hypertension. The level of awareness of hypertension among the respondents was very low (84.3%) while a larger percentage (52.7%) used light exercise as preventive practice. Only 99 (27.7%) had close relations living with hypertension. The respondents were also associated with other complicated issues related to hypertension. A larger number of respondents were unaware of hypertension severity and associated risk factors. The higher degree was more aware of the benefits of hypertension preventative lifestyle behaviors. Based on these findings, enlightenment campaigns and/or health education on hypertension and mode of its prevention should be put in place, governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as religious leaders, should take hypertension medication compliances seriously.

Keywords: Ahmadiyya Muslim, Elders, health beliefs, hypertension, Nigeria.

References:

[1].   Al-Wehedy A., Abd Elhameed, S.H., and Abd El-Hameed D. (2014). Effect of a lifestyle intervention program on controlling hypertension among older adults. Journal of Education and Practice, 5(5), 61.

[2].   Bani, I.A. (2011). Prevalence and related risk factors of essential hypertension in the Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia. Sudanese Journal of Public Health, 6(2), 45-50.

[3].   Chavez, M.L. (2000). Knowledge and practices on hypertension of adults: An interventional study by trained volunteer health workers in Barangay Militar, Tukuran, Zamboanga Del Sur, The Faculty of the Zamboanga Medical School Foundation, I.N.C. Zamboanga City, Doctoral Degree of Medicine, 2000. 3, 20.

[4].   Cunha and Marks, 2011.

[5].   Glanz, K. (2008). Health behaviour and health education: Theory, research, and practice. 4th Edition. San Francisco, California, USA: Jossey-Bass, .46.

[6].   Janz, N.K., and Becker, M.H. (1984). The health belief model: A decade later. Health Educ Q 1984, 11, 1–47.

[7].   Leconte, M.M., and Ismael, V. (2012). Teaching plan for high blood pressure management, college of technology. New York City, 126.

[8].   Lim, S.S., Vos, T., Flaxman, A.D. (2012). A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet, 380, 2224-60.

[9].   Mary Beth, M.R., Low, S.Y., and Chung, P.Y. (2012). Study to assess the knowledge on self-blood pressure monitoring among hypertensive patients in selected wards of hospital Lam Wah Ee, Malaysia, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ie JSME, 6(2), 43-45.

[10].  Steven Dowshen, M.D. (2018). How can spirituality affect your family's health, retrieved on the 30^th of December, 2018? www.kidshealth.org/parents/spiritual.

[11].  Taylor, D. et al. A review of the use of the Health Belief Model (HBM), the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Trans-Theoretical Model (TTM) to study and predict health-related behavior change. From: www.nie.org. UK/guidance/ph6/resources/behaviour-change-Taylor-et-al-modelsreview2 Accessed: Dec. 2018.

[12].  Wikipedia https://travel.jumia.com/en-gb/destinations/ojokoro-10003456.

[13].  Wikipedia List of Nigerian states by population htpp://www.free en.m.wikipedia.org/. (Accessed 5 Jan 2018).

[14].  Williams, C. (2003). Cushman the burden of uncontrolled hypertension: morbidity and mortality associated with disease progression. Journal of Clinical Hypertension (Greenwich UK).