Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Non-adherence to medication treatment planning is a pervasive and challenging issue in health care, especially among patients with hypertension. Statistically, inadequately controlled hypertension due to non-adherence to treatment is most prevalent among Black and Hispanic Americans in the southern United States (Hayes et al., 2022). Particularly, hypertension within southern rural communities reflects substantial socioeconomic factors and health disparities influencing medication adherence (Besel et al., 2023). Minority adults over age forty, face increased health barriers to adequate treatment (Wilder et al., 2021). Moreover, the prevalence of hypertension medication non-adherence is notably higher in rural areas nationally (Besel et al., 2023). Black and Hispanic adults living in Rural South Mississippi often face low health literacy and negative healthcare beliefs, resulting in higher complication rates and a hesitation to seek care (Hohl et al.,2023). Providers often struggle to develop effective interventions due to low patient health literacy, which hinders effective care planning and leads to low rates of hypertension control (Smith et al., 2023). This quality improvement project implemented and evaluated the patient Hypertension Education and Adherence Toolkit (HEAT), which was used to address health literacy needs through authenticated educational resources aimed at improving medication adherence among rural minority adults. The methodology employs the Unni and Bae (2022) Hierarchical Model for Medication Adherence (HMMA) framework to improve medication adherence. Post-intervention data indicated that education–based initiatives effectively enhanced medication adherence, as shown by significantly improved blood pressure control (p = 0.045) and medication adherence assessment scores (p < 0.001), alpha = 0.05.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Loni M., "Improving Hypertension Medication Adherence in Rural Southern Mississippi Minority Adults with Implementation of a Patient Hypertension Education and Adherence Toolkit (HEAT)" (2026). Theses. 69.
https://roar.una.edu/theses/69
