A WeChat-Based Self-Management Intervention for Community Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults with Hypertension in Guangzhou, China: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

This study aimed to assess whether a WeChat-based self-management intervention would be effective for community middle-aged and elderly adults with hypertension in Guangzhou, China. We conducted a cluster-randomized control trial with a total of 464 participants (intervention, n = 186; control, n = 276) between March 2018 and May 2019. The self-management intervention lasted for 6 months, consisting of health education, health promotion, group chat, and blood pressure (BP) monitoring. All individuals in the baseline and follow-up surveys were assessed for BP and completed a hypertension knowledge questionnaire, self-efficacy scale, self-management scale, and social support scale. A total of 253 participants (intervention, n = 110; control, n = 143) completed the follow-up survey and were included in the analysis. The adjusted mean differences in the changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) between the intervention and control groups were −6.9 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) −11.2 to −2.6; p = 0.002) and −3.1 (95% CI −5.7 to −0.6; p = 0.016) mmHg, respectively. Individuals who participated in the intervention program had better BP monitoring, improved their hypertension self-management as well as parts of their disease knowledge and self-efficacy. The WeChat-based self-management intervention may be a feasible and efficient program to help Chinese community middle-aged and elderly hypertensive patients lower BP and improve self-management.

Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation for high-normal blood pressure: study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial

“…They contain information about weight control, increase physical activity, healthy eating, dietary sodium reduction, smoke abatement and set limit to alcohol. This approach was supported by previous study which used a WeChat-based lifestyle modi cation in China and showed signi cant reduction in blood pressure for patients with hypertension [30] .…”

Addition of the Electronic Educational Material to Doctor’s Face-to-Face Education Has No Additive Effects on Hypertension Control: A Randomized Single Blind Study

“…It is necessary to initiate research to identify if the additive effect exists in the combination of different methods of patient education for HTN control. Because sending the electronic educational material over the cell phone [ 13 ] is a popular, effective, and economically new method for HTN management based on recent publications, we therefore have initiated a randomized control study to compare the traditional doctor's face-to-face education as the control arm and its combination of the electronic educational material through WeChat and message over the cell phone as the intervention arm. It was planned to include a control arm without any education which was, however, denied by the ethic committee.…”

“…Patient education is a common effective nonmedication therapy for HTN [ 2 ]. There are many methods of patient education effective for HTN, such as the traditional doctor's face-to-face education [ 3 ], pharmacist education [ 4 ], nurse teaching session [ 5 ], interdisciplinary education program [ 6 ], educational booklet [ 7 ], group patient education [ 8 ], telephone follow-up education [ 9 ], tailored educational program to change behaviors [ 10 ], and modern electronic methods including the educational e-mail [ 11 ], Facebook advertisement [ 12 ], message and WeChat over the cell phone [ 13 ], and educational Internet platform [ 14 ]. Can we apply many educational methods to boost the effectiveness?…”

The effect of WeChat-based training on improving the village doctors’ knowledge of tuberculosis management: a pre-and-post intervention study from China

“…Therefore, for most village doctors with lower education level, apart from routine inservice trainings, instant training that had good feasibility and accessibility and was not subjects to venue and time constraint needs to be enhanced. A number of studies had explored the effect of WeChatbased training on others health disorders, such as mental health or chronic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases [13,23]. Our research took TB as an entry point, which may be a good attempt to provide new insights for further improving rural doctors' knowledge of other infectious diseases.…”

“…WeChat users could obtain information and browse resources from all kinds of WeChat platforms easily. WeChat-based training combining with synchronous communication, video, picture, and article were widely used because of its feasibility, acceptability and e cacy [13][14]. The current study aimed to explore the effect of WeChat-based training program on improving the knowledge of TB management for village doctors through a pre-and-post study design.…”