Understanding minority patients' beliefs about hypertension to reduce gaps in communication between patients and clinicians

The authors' objective was to gain a better understanding of minority patients' beliefs about hypertension and to use this understanding to develop a model to explain gaps in communication between patients and clinicians. Eighty-eight hypertensive black and Latino adults from 4 inner-city primary care clinics participated in focus groups to elucidate views on hypertension. Participants believed that hypertension was a serious illness in need of treatment. Participants' diverged from the medical model in their beliefs about the time-course of hypertension (believed hypertension was intermittent); causes of hypertension (believed stress, racism, pollution, and poverty were the important causes); symptoms of hypertension (believed hypertension was primarily present when symptomatic); and treatments for hypertension (preferred alternative treatments that reduced stress over prescription medications). Participants distrusted clinicians who prioritized medications that did not directly address their understanding of the causes or symptoms of hypertension. Patients' models of understanding chronic asymptomatic illnesses such as hypertension challenge the legitimacy of lifelong, pill-centered treatment. Listening to patients' beliefs about hypertension may increase trust, improve communication, and encourage better self-management of hypertension.