Balancing Present Joy and Future Goals: Insights from Delay of Gratification in Chinese Patients with Hypertension– A Qualitative study

Background: Hypertension is a high-risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and its management still needs to be improved. This study explains this situation from the perspective of delay of gratification and provides new ideas for hypertension management. Method: A qualitative study was used. Twenty-five community-based hypertensive patients were recruited via maximum variation sampling and purposive sampling. Semistructured interviews were conducted between June 2023 and August 2023 at a community hospital in central China. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically, and the Colaizzi seven-step analysis method was used to analyze the information. Results: The delay of gratification in the daily self-management process of hypertensive patients needs to be improved. A lack of long-term health goals, sensitivity to instant pleasure, and attention bias were the main barriers affecting the delay of gratification in hypertensive patients. Autonomous motivation and altruism are facilitating factors for delayed gratification in hypertensive patients. Conclusion: Medical staff should pay attention to the problem of low self-management levels in hypertensive patients and take the perspective of delay of gratification as a new perspective for targeted intervention in hypertensive patients. They should actively guide patients regarding emotions, cognition, coping strategies, etc., improve their delay of gratification level, and build a long-term health behavior system to achieve more effective disease management and health promotion.