Self-care stances, relations and significance of high blood pressure

Abstract

Introduction: In clinical practice, the question is frequently posed about why some patients with chronic diseases do not follow the recommendations given by health professionals, despite the information that they obtain about the disease. Objective: To understand how self-care stances are constructed and their articulation with the meaning of arterial hypertension and the doctor-patient relationship. Method: Qualitative study, with narrative design. Conversational spaces were analyzed with patients and health professionals. Results: The construction of the experience in the conversational healthcare space does not have a convergence point, since it is part of unidirectional conversations centered on the experience of the physician in front of the patient and the latter's dialogue with himself/herself about his/her illness, experiences not leading to sustainable transformations in lifestyle over time and favoring the emergence of limiting labels for the construction of relationships that enable patients to assume their self-care. Conclusions: Dialogue in the doctor-patient relationship facilitates the emergence of new meanings of the disease and the activation of processes, by which people can assume the experience from responsibility and self-care.