Health Self-Management Support with Microlearning to Improve Hypertension

Abstract

High blood pressure is a leading cause of premature death. Healthy lifestyle choices (of diet, exercise, sleep and stress) could offer significant results. However, health literacy and -competence are lacking in most people, compared to best practice health choices, so there is room for improvement in creating hypertension self-management results. We tested an intensive two-week Self-Management Support (SMS) pilot, using daily feedback and microlearning cycles. Participants (n=8) reduced their blood pressure from 145/92 to 126/86 mmHg on average. User evaluation on effectiveness of the health support elements highlighted the importance of key SMS components like: information transfer, daily monitoring, enhancing problem solving/decision making, self-treatment using a tailored action plan, coping skills and ongoing follow-up with skilled coaches. Moreover, several aspects from microlearning, peer coaching, results-achievement and feeling better (=intrinsic motivation) were useful and hold promise for future intervention updates.