Adding story-centered care to standard lifestyle intervention for people with Stage 1 hypertension
Received 11 January 2004; received in revised form 18 November 2004; accepted 23 December 2004.
Abstract
This study examined the blood pressure (BP)-lowering effect of adding story-centered care (i.e., carefully attending to another's narrative) to standard lifestyle intervention (i.e., exercise training and nutrition counseling) for people with Stage 1 hypertension. The subjects (N = 24), who were university and hospital employees, were unmedicated and received standard lifestyle intervention; half were randomly assigned to story-centered care. Their 24-hour BP was measured four times at 8-week intervals, twice before and twice after the intervention. Subjects who received story-centered care had greater decreases (p < .05) in awake systolic BP over the 6-month study period. Neither systolic nor diastolic sleep BP was significantly affected. Story-centered care showed promise for contributing to the BP-lowering effect of lifestyle intervention. Approaches for integrating story-centered care into the treatment of people with hypertension are challenging but warrant further attention.
aChristine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA
bSchool of Nursing, University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
cCollege of Nursing, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77030, USA
dSchool of Public Health, University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
eMemorial Hermann Wellness Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
fSchool of Medicine, University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
ABSTRACT