A Smart mobile health intervention: Improving hypertension self-management through whatsapp-delivered video education

Hypertension remains a leading global health challenge, particularly in low-resource settings where access to health education is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a video-based educational intervention delivered via WhatsApp in improving self-care management behaviors among hypertensive patients in a rural Indonesian primary care setting. A pre-experimental one-group pre-test-post-test design was used involving 46 patients diagnosed with hypertension at a rural health center. Educational videos covering primary topics -such as hypertension, complications, medication adherence, healthy lifestyle modifications, and blood pressure monitoring- were delivered every three days over two weeks using the WhatsApp platform. Self-care behavior was measured before and after the intervention using the validated Hypertension Self-Management Behavior Questionnaire. Pre-test results revealed that 80.4% of participants had moderate self-care behavior. Following the intervention, 100% achieved good self-care behavior. Statistical analysis using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a significant improvement in mean scores from 111.67 to 150.48 (p < 0.001). Notable improvements were observed in self-regulation and interaction with healthcare providers. These findings support the use of mobile video-based education as a scalable, low-cost strategy to help improve the hypertension self-care in the underserved populations. Further research is highly recommended to explore the long-term effects and broader implementation.