Korean J Prev Med.  1986 Nov;19(2):203-212.

A Study on Sick Role Behavior of Some Hypertensive Workers

• Lee E
• Kim S
• Cha C

Abstract

Hypertension is one of the most well known risk factors for cerebrovascular or coronary heart disease and is a major public health problem. Early detection and treatment of hypertension are essential, but the compliance of treatment on hypertension is not easy to archive. Hypertensive workers are being detected by the annual screening under the Labour Standard Law in Korea but the solidified control system for them is not existing. This study about workers' Motive- Belief-Action in non-drug and drug treatment of their hypertension would be worthwhile to interpret how the workers actually behave in coping with hypertension, and also would be advisable to construct the follow-up program in Korea. In the field research process two criteria were used to select sample group. The first criterion included the workers who were screened to be hypertensive with their blood pressure above 160/95 in this survey. The second one was used to classify study-group respondents who had known their hypertension by successive annual screening. From such criteria a total of 156 male workers were sampled in 21 industries, the author interviewed them using the structured questionnaire which consisted of Belief-Motive-Action items about non-drug and drug treatment for hypertension with open-ended question on symptom of hypertension. The summary is as follows: 1) Sixty-one percent of respondents had ever checked their blood pressure somewhere besides the annual screening. 2) Most respondents(97.2%) complained no symptoms of hypertension at all. 3) Belief level of non-drug treatment was relatively high (82.1%-64.7%), but motive (55.1%-28.2%) and action (38.5%-16.7%) levels were low. 4) Belief level of drug treatment was relatively lower than that of non-drug treatment, blue collar workers showed higher action level of drug treatment than white collar workers, and correlation coefficient between belief and motive on drug treatment was lower in group of not-recognizing their family history of hypertension than recognized group. Such findings indicated that belief on drug treatment of hypertensive workers would be problematic. 5) White collar workers showed significant lower correlation coefficients between Motive and Action of salt restriction, restriction of fatty diet and relaxation than blue collar workers. 6) Mild hypertension group showed low levels of Motive and Action of non-drug treatment (salt restriction, restriction of fatty diet and relaxation) and also showed low correlation coefficient between Belief and Motive of above non-drug treatment.

MeSH Terms

Archives
Blood Pressure
Compliance
Coronary Disease
Surveys and Questionnaires
Diet
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Hypertension
Jurisprudence
Korea
Male
Mass Screening
Public Health
Surveys and Questionnaires
Relaxation
Risk Factors
Sick Role*