Educational interventions with a multifaceted approach have proven effective to improve adherence to therapeutic regimens in people with chronic diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a nursing intervention involving individual teaching compared with usual care to improve adherence with therapeutic regimens in people with hypertension and/or type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This was a parallel randomised two-arm clinical trial in 200 patients from a primary care programme. After 6 months of follow-up, there was a significant improvement in treatment adherence with a score of 0.87 (95% CI 0.30 to 1.44) on a 13 point scale, and an average reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 3.79 mmHg (95% CI: -6.85 to -0.73) in the intervention group, but not in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels (-0.16% 95% CI: -0.41 to 0.09). The individual teaching intervention was effective in improving therapeutic adherence and improving blood pressure values among the participants from the primary care programme.
Keywords: Adherence; Hypertension; Patient education; Therapeutic regimen; Type 2 diabetes mellitus.