FAMILIES’ EXPERIENCES OF BUILDING RESILIENCE WHILE CARING FOR A FAMILY MEMBER WITH HYPERTENSION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

Abstract

Hypertension requires sustained family involvement in medication management, lifestyle modification, blood pressure monitoring, and access to healthcare services. However, limited evidence explains how families build resilience while providing long-term hypertension care. This study aimed to explore families’ experiences of building resilience while caring for a family member with hypertension. A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted in the service area of Margadadi Community Health Center, Indramayu Regency, Indonesia, from May to August 2026. Eleven family members representing 11 patients with hypertension were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face, in-depth interviews and field notes and analyzed using Colaizzi’s method. Trustworthiness was maintained through credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability. Four themes emerged: reorganizing care in response to the threats posed by hypertension; sustaining care amid environmental pressures; transforming affection into sustained caregiving actions; and sustaining continuity of care through flexible family contributions. Families built resilience by learning from the threat of complications, adapting physical and emotional care, negotiating unhealthy social practices, establishing shared healthy routines, actively monitoring blood pressure, and adjusting contributions according to proximity and capacity. The findings indicate that family resilience is a dynamic process of continuous adaptation rather than a fixed characteristic. Community nurses should strengthen families’ home-care capacity, facilitate realistic role distribution, monitor primary caregiver burden, and coordinate support among families, community health volunteers, and healthcare services.