The chronically hypertensive person

This book offers a comprehensive summary of the study carried out by Cunha et al. which aimed to investigate the impact of chronic disease, namely arterial hypertension, by assessing the lifestyle and perceived quality of life of users integrated into the Consultation of People with Arterial Hypertension in an outpatient clinic of a central hospital in Portugal. The study adopted a quantitative, descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional approach, involving a sample of 105 participants. In addition, the Mini Quality of Life Questionnaire (MINICHAL) was culturally validated for Portuguese in Portugal, highlighting adequate psychometric properties. The results revealed that the perception of quality of life related to somatic health is positively influenced by healthy lifestyles, such as adequate nutrition, adequate sleep, low stress and healthy health and sexual behaviors, while the perception of quality of life related to mental state was correlated with the quality of family and social relationships, quality of sleep, levels of stress experienced, health behaviors and alcohol consumption. This book provides an overview of the course of the study, presenting the main methods used, the results found and the implications for programs to prevent and control cardiovascular risk factors, highlighting the importance of raising awareness of healthy lifestyles for an adequate perception of quality of life for people experiencing chronic illness.