Social Support and Access to Health Care Among Hypertensive People with Disability at Karamajiji Disability Colony of the Federal Capital, Abuja

Abstract

Social support which exists in various forms is crucial in patient management. It has significant role to play especially in individuals with disability and chronic disease such as hypertension. Individual’s with adequate social support tends to do well with regards to accessing healthcare. It is essential in people’s coping mechanisms and adaptation to any form of stress. People with good network of social support are well positioned to manage any condition they are predisposed to. Hypertension is a chronic disease that needs adequate management to achieve control thereby decreasing the chances of developing complications. Complications associated with hypertension have significant effect in patients’ quality of life, productivity and finances. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between social support and use of healthcare facilities among hypertensive people with disability at Karamajiji disability colony of Federal Capital Territory Abuja with the view of improving the quality of their care.

Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out on 244 hypertensive people with disability who are 18 years and above at Karamajiji disability colony of the Federal Capital Abuja who met the inclusion criteria using systematic random sampling technique. Data were collected through a semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Data collected from the study was analysed using Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21 IBM Corporation, United States of America (USA). Descriptive statistics was used to report continuous variables while frequencies and percentages were used to report categorical variables.. Bivariate analysis such as Chi square exact test was used to determine relationship. Multivarate analysis using binary logistic regression was used to test independent predictors of social support. The level of statistical significance was set at P- value <0.05.

Results: From the results of the study, 53.7% of the study participants have high perceived access to healthcare. It was noted that 74.0 % of them from overall total subscale have high social support and 92.6% of the study participants agreed that functional social support is the most common. However, with regards to relationship between social support and blood pressure control, it showed that 60.3% of, the study participants have poor blood pressure control and 39.7% have good blood pressure control with P-value of < 0.001 which is significant. Logistic regression analysis was used to test the independent predictors of social support. For stage 1 Hypertension and Stage 2 Hypertension, blood Pressure control among the study participants from the four different social support subscales have P-values < 0.05 which is less than 95% level of significant. They were found to be the predictors of social support in the study population.

Conclusion: Social support network, especially the functional was observed in helping patients to access healthcare. Access to healthcare is vital in individuals with disability and helps in achieving controlled blood pressure and thereby preventing or delaying the emergence of complications. More efforts are needed in encouraging social support network among disabled people to achieve good health outcome.