Abstract:
Background. Although nutrition education for the prevention and management of hypertension is the responsibility of registered
dieticians and nutritionist, nurses also play this role particularly because there are few registered dieticians. This study was
conducted to assess final-year nursing students’ level of knowledge regarding the nutritional prevention and management of
hypertension. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess their knowledge regarding the dietary management of
hypertension. A total of 220 students completed a 21-itemnutritional prevention andmanagement of hypertension knowledge test.
Results. Students’ knowledge about potential modifiable risk factors of hypertension such as excessive salt and alcohol intake was
good. Less than half (44.5%) indicated that they will recommend an increased intake of potassium food sources to hypertensive
patients. However, 70.5% incorrectly indicated that they will advise hypertensive patients to always read nutritional information on
food items in order to avoid excessive intake of potassium in their diet. Conclusion.The results of this study indicate that there are
some deficits in nursing students’ nutritional knowledge for managing hypertension. The findings suggest an urgent need to revise
the nursing training curriculum in order to include practical information that can be applied by nursing students, after graduation.
