Behavioral Counseling of Theory of Planned Behavior-Based to Increase Sufferers' Intention in Preventing Recurrent Ischemic Stroke: A Randomized Control Trial

Abstract

Introduction: Ischemic stroke has become the leading cause of premature death in the last two decades. The biggest problem in preventing recurrence ischemic stroke is the compliance of the sufferers and the obedient behavior will arise only if they are consistent and have a strong intention. This study aims to determine the effect of behavioral counseling in increasing the intention to prevent recurrent ischemic stroke by using the theory of planned behavior model approach. Methods: Randomized Control Trial was conducted on 64 patients after an ischemic stroke that was managed by a public health center in East Java, Indonesia. Simple random sampling technique was used to take samples in this study. We provided behavioral counseling regarding the prevention of ischemic stroke recurrence to the treatment group using the Behavioral module which was compiled based on the guidelines from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), while the intention variable was measured using the intention measurement instrument from the TPB Questionaries. The data obtained were then analyzed by using an independent t test. Results: The result revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean value of the intention variable between the control group and the treatment group after the TPB-based behavioral counseling intervention for 1 month (p=0.015). Discussion: The behavioral counseling of TPB-based can be implemented as an alternative way in increasing the sufferers’ intention to prevent recurrence ischemic stroke. Further research in a broader scope is needed to prove the effectiveness of behavioral counseling on the structural values of the Theory of Planned Behavior.