The Effect of Contextualized Racial and Gendered Stressors, Social Support, and Depression on Hypertension Illness Perceptions and Hypertension Medication Adherence in Young African American Women With Hypertension.
Telisa Spikes, Melinda Higgins, Tené Lewis and 1 others
PMID 33045154WHAT IT FOUND
Among 85 young African American women with hypertension, overall beliefs about hypertension, stress, support, and depression were not associated with medication adherence.
Adherent women had lower systolic BP and believed hypertension affected their life and symptoms less.
Key findings
01Of 85 women with hypertension, 69 were classified as nonadherent to BP medication by self-report.
02Overall hypertension illness perception scores were not associated with medication adherence, but adherent women had lower systolic BP and lower scores for beliefs about life impact and symptoms.
03Higher depressive symptoms and higher systolic BP were associated with hypertension illness beliefs, while stress exposure, social support, and depression were not associated with adherence after accounting for other variables.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that beliefs, stress, support, or depression caused adherence or nonadherence. The sample was 85 convenience-recruited African American or black women aged 18 to 45, so it may not apply to other populations. Medication adherence was self-reported, and the scale classified 81.2% as nonadherent, which may reflect the cutpoint rather than true nonadherence. The illness perception questionnaire was less reliable in this sample than in prior studies. The study was small, and some findings came from secondary or dimension-level analyses.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that stressful experiences, low social support, or depression explain medication nonadherence in this group. Those variables were not associated with adherence after accounting for other variables, the study was cross-sectional, and adherence was self-reported.