Comparison of Effect of Two Methods of Face-to-Face Education and Distance Education (via Short Message Service) on Amount of Following Remedial Diet in Patients Suffering From Hypertension

Background: A large amount of money is allocated to hypertension in terms of remedial and care costs, but fighting against this disease begins with education. Objectives: This study has been conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of two methods: face-to-face education and distance education (via short message service [SMS]) on amount of following remedial diet in patients suffering from hypertension. Patients and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 72 patients who were suffering from hypertension participated. They were selected by the purposeful sampling from three hospitals in Abadan city, Iran. Each of the three groups were similar in terms of age, gender, level of education, marital status, and duration of suffering from hypertension. The first group was under face-to-face education for eight sessions of 30 minutes; the second group under distance education (via SMS); and the third group did not receive any education as they were the control group. The tools used for collecting data involved three questionnaires (demographic data [two parts], following medicinal diet (three parts: MMAS-3, therapeutic lifestyle changes, and dietary approach to stop hypertension), and evaluating the amount of patients’ awareness about their disease. This study applied descriptive and deductive statistics with SPSS Version 20 for statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that the mean of examined realms, after interference in both the face-to-face and the distance education groups, had a significant statistical difference with the before-interference mean (P = 0.0001). Inter-group comparison between systolic and diastolic blood pressure and awareness realms showed that there was a significant statistical difference between the face-to-face education group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). However, in other realms, no significant statistical difference was observed between the two educational groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Having access to distance education is easier for patients with hypertension and it saves time; therefore, it may be the most appropriate method to assist them in following their allocated treatment.