A protocol paper on health literacy for management and control of hypertension: Participatory action intervention in a village of Chandigarh, India

Joint Event on 7^th International Conference on Advances in Skin, Wound Care and Tissue Science & 11^th International Conference on Epidemiology & Public HealthSurgery

September 25-26, 2019 Copenhagen, Denmark

Reetu Passi, Manmeet Kaur and Madhu Gupta

Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, India

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Tissue Sci Eng

Abstract :

Health Literacy (HL) is a vast concept and can improve health outcomes of chronic conditions, like hypertension, which is on the rise in Indian populations. But no interventions having long term relevance or sustainability to improve HL or providing skills to maintain family’s or community’s health have been tried in India yet. Participatory approach to increase health literacy levels that can help in management and control of chronic condition like hypertension is required. A village of Chandigarh, India with sample size of 520 adults will be selected for this study. A ‘concurrent mixed method’study design with quantitative and qualitative baseline survey, intervention and an end line survey will be carried out. The participatory action intervention will progress in three spirals of planning, action and reflection of two months each, including progress evaluation of each cycle. Here, through focus group discussions and in depth interviews, intervention will be planned with focus on the concepts of HL like, information of disease, navigation of healthcare settings, communication with healthcare providers, social support, etc. Community and scientific groups will be formed which will comprise the organization structure for engaging community. A group of volunteers from community will be trained by the researcher for all the activities to be performed during intervention. Till now, Health literacy questionnaire- Asia tool for measuring HL and identifying HL needs of the community has been validated. Also, quantitative baseline survey has been conducted. The effect of participatory action intervention on change in health literacy of rural adult population will be checked for adherence to medication, routine follow ups, blood pressure, salt intake, obesity and other practices to manage and control HTN like smoking, alcohol and physical activity. (Results will be discussed in the conference if required)