Impact of health literacy educational intervention on improve medication adherence and blood pressure level in patients with ischemic heart disease.

Background: Successful management of metabolic heart diseases requires adequate health literacy to properly understand health care guidelines and adopt health-related behaviors necessary for the treatment process. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of health literacy educational intervention to improve medication adherence, knowledge, and blood pressure levels in rural patients with ischemic heart diseases (IHDs).

Materials and methods: The present study was a randomized clinical trial that examined 100 adult patients in a rural area of Isfahan Province. Patients with IHDs were assigned to two 50-individual groups, control, and intervention. The intervention group underwent health literacy educational intervention in five 60-minute training sessions. For collecting data, we used two questionnaires, a 5-item medication adherence report scale, and the researcher-made medication knowledge questionnaire.

Results: Medication adherence score after intervention indicated a significant difference in the intervention group compared to the control group (P = 0.004). The total score of medication knowledge also had a significant increase in the intervention group (P = 0.007). Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure three months after the intervention showed a significant difference between the two groups (respectively P = 0.009 and P = 0.04). Medication adherence and medication knowledge had a low and aligned relationship (P = 0.001, r = 0.40).

Conclusion: Health education interventions to raise health literacy in patients about medication knowledge could have a significant impact on medication adherence and also it should be considered in health policy and planning to improve public health in the future.