| dc.description.abstract | This study was conducted on 200 gospel workers who were mainly Seventhday Adventists from the South Central, Ashanti South, Ashanti Central and the
Central Ghana Conferences of Ghana, as means of addressing hypertension and its
associated risks. It had a broad objective of determining the prevalence of
hypertension and its associated risks, among Gospel workers of the Northern Ghana
Union Mission (NOGH) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and specific objectives
of firstly determining the level of knowledge on hypertension among them; secondly
to identify the nature of management of hypertension among gospel workers; and
lastly, to determine the risk factors associated with hypertension among the gospel
workers.
The study adopted the mixed method approach by using a combination of
cross-sectional, descriptive and non-experimental survey design. Data was collected
by using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. These were questionnaires,interviews, documentary analysis and field survey. The questionnaires which
contributed the larger part were analyzed by using SPSS, while interviews response
were interpreted as the respondents meant them. The results of the study discovered
that the majority of the gospel workers had adequate knowledge about the causes and
symptoms of hypertensive disease. Regardless of this high knowledge, there was a
high prevalence rate (38%) of hypertension. Though some gospel workers claimed
they were aware of being hypertensive and had adopted various anti-hypertension
management and prevention measures, there was still a poor health behavior and
lifestyle among the gospel workers leading to the prevalence of hypertension. It was
therefore concluded that, in the case of Gospel workers such as pastors, elders of
churches and church financial officers where most activities are taken to be more
spiritual in nature, less attention is typically paid to the prevention and management of
lifestyle/medical conditions like hypertension.
Based on the findings of the study and the conclusions, it is recommended that
various measures, such as effective nutrition/health education on topics such as Myplate guidelines, as well as enlightenment on the causes and symptoms of
hypertension, will be a step toward the reduction in the prevalence of hypertension.
General improvement of the lifestyle and health behavior of gospel workers such as
engaging in good dieting system, exercising regularly, and having enough rest. Part of
a good prevention intervention would also include visiting the hospitals, clinics, and
other health centers regularly to assess health status. Of course, it is also vital to report
cases of hypertension to the health centers as another method to manage and prevent
the prevalence of hypertension. | en_US |
