Hypertension self-management support: relationship between nurses’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and practice in Ghana

Abstract

Self-management support for people living with chronic diseases, such as hypertension, can improve treatment outcomes. However, to effectively provide self-management support, nurses must possess adequate knowledge, demonstrate self-efficacy, and actively engage in it. The study aimed to examine nurses’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and performance of hypertension self-management support and the relationships among these variables and socio-demographic characteristics in the northern region of Ghana. An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted among 266 nurses in three hospitals in the Northern Region of Ghana. Respondents completed self-reported questionnaires from two validated instruments (one was adopted wholly, and the other was modified), measuring hypertension self-management knowledge, self-efficacy, and performance of self-management support. The data were processed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 30. Respondents had a mean knowledge score of 56.2 ± 11.74%, and 32.7% ( n = 87) had adequate knowledge regarding hypertension self-management. From a total score of 24, the mean self-efficacy score was 17.00 ± 4.89, higher than the performance of the SMS score (14.28 ± 4.80). Knowledge of hypertension self-management had a weak, yet statistically significant correlation with self-efficacy (r = 0.172, p = .005) and performance ( r = 0.134, p = .029); however, self-efficacy was significantly and strongly associated with performance of self-management support (r = 0.674, p = < 0.001). Study respondents demonstrated inadequate knowledge regarding hypertension self-management but reported high levels of self-efficacy and moderate performance, suggesting a possible overestimation of their capabilities. This highlights the need for continuous education and mentorship to ensure nurses can effectively provide comprehensive hypertension self-management support.