Psychological Intervention to Address Hypertension in South Africaâ•Žs Peri-Urban Settlements

Hypertension is a chronic health condition affecting the lives of almost a billion people globally. Managing diet is crucial for controlling high blood pressure. Periurban communities in South Africa face multiple barriers that make the consumption of a healthy diet particularly difficult. These barriers include: residence in informal settlement areas, long distance commutes, low socioeconomic status, poor health awareness and knowledge, lack of food availability, poverty, low levels of education, high stress levels, the impact of HIV/AIDS, and cultural perceptions of food types. Psychological intervention techniques, such as motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can assist necessary behavior change by challenging thought processes around healthy eating and hypertension, whilst aiding the implementation and maintenance of healthier eating regimes. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol10/iss1/3