The Prevalence of Type D Personality and Correlations between Medication Self-Efficacy and Self-Care Behavior in Patients with Hypertension

Abstract

Background: Type D personality is a combination of 2 traits which are negative affectivity and social inhibition. In health care situation, type D patients are more likely to have non-medication adherence, pessimistic about their ability to cope with illness and believe that it will be long-lasting which lead them to present worse health outcomes. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of type D personality and associations among medication self-efficacy and self-care behaviors in patients with hypertension. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Patients with hypertension (n = 383) who attended a primary care unit were recruited. Volunteering participants completed the Type D-Scale (DS14) questionnaire for the evaluation of the prevalence of type D personality. To evaluate medication self-efficacy and self-care behavior, Self-efficacy for Appropriate Medication Use Scale Thai version and Self-care behaviors scale for patients with hypertension were employed. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and Pearson’s correlations were used in data analysis. Results: Fifty-six participants (14.6%) were classified with type D personality (26 males and 30 females). A positive relationship between medication self-efficacy and self-care behavior was found (r = 0.294, p < 0.01). In contrast, type D personality had a negative association with medication self-efficacy and self-care behavior (r = -0.251, r = -0.138, p < 0.01). Conclusion: Compare to the previous studies, the present study illustrated quite lower prevalence of type D personality. Type D personality is a psychological health risk factor which negatively affects health both directly and indirectly, especially self-efficacy and self-care behavior. Even just one of the two type D personality traits can lead to a similar detrimental result. Positive relationship between medication self-efficacy and self-care behavior can be applied to develop health promotion programs for patient with hypertension.