This exploratory-descriptive study has the goal of analyzing the knowledge of family members of the hypertensive person in the adhesion to their treatment. It was carried out with the participation of 400 relatives of hypertensive persons enrolled in the League of Arterial Hypertension of the Hospital of Messejana, in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. The data was collected through interviews, processed and analyzed by the Statistical Package is Social Science program. Most of the relatives were children and spouses aged between 40 to 49 years who presented notions of hypertension and its treatment, such as regular use, number of daily uptakes and medicine types, reduction of salt, and abstention of animal fat. They associated as complications myocardial arrest, cerebral vascular accidents, and extensive myocardiopathy. It is concluded that the knowledge, although superficial, was significant to the viability of adhesion to the treatment. Thus, involving the family in the issue of arterial hypertension emphasizes the importance of their qualification to invest in the hypertensive person’s adhesion to their treatment.
Family; Education; Hypertension