Capacidad de agencia de autocuidado y su relación con depresión en pacientes hipertensos de áreas rurales de la provincia de Loja.

Abstract

Abstract: The research analyzes the capacity for self-care agency and its relationship with depression in hypertensive patients from rural areas of the province of Loja, since high blood pressure is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide and represents a risk factor for cardiovascular complications. The effective management of this pathology requires the adoption of healthy habits and adequate adherence to treatment; however, the presence of depressive symptoms can interfere with the implementation of self-care strategies. The study was carried out in rural areas of the province of Loja, Ecuador, where high blood pressure is a prevalent disease that affects a significant proportion of the population. It is framed in the need to understand how depression influences the capacity for self-care in hypertensive patients, considering that adherence to healthy habits is key to avoiding cardiovascular complications. The target population was hypertensive patients from rural areas. Non- probabilistic snowball sampling was used, selecting participants based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, ensuring that they were over 20 years of age, with a diagnosis of hypertension and residing in rural areas. To measure the capacity for self-care, the questionnaire "Capacity for Self-Care Agency in Patients with Arterial Hypertension" was applied, with a Likert scale of 17 to 85 points, and to evaluate the presence and severity of depressive symptoms, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2) was used. The information was collected through online surveys and tabulated in specialized software for statistical analysis.