As the prevalence of hypertension in China's rural areas is very high, hypertension management in these areas is particularly important.

To summarize the characteristics and weaknesses of hypertension management in Shandong's rural areas using the Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions Framework (ICCC) proposed by the WHO, and to put forward targeted recommendations.

According to the socio-economic level and geographical distribution of hypertension prevalence, three county-level centers for disease control and prevention, 9 town health centers and 36 village clinics were selected from A county of Heze, B district of Jinan and C city of Weihai in Shandong Province, from which 84 cases (including individuals responsible for hypertension management programs, medical workers and hypertensive patients) were selected from June to July 2021 using a purposive sampling method to attend a face-to-face semi-structured interview for understanding the status of hypertension management in Shandong's rural areas. NVivo 12 and Qualitative Data Analysis Model proposed by MILES and HUBERMAN, were used to encode and analyse the interview results using the macro-, meso- and micro-level components of the ICCC.

A total of 13 themes and 51 subthemes were derived from the analysis at three levels. At the macro level, the implementation of hypertension management in Shandong's rural areas was generally in a positive policy environment, such as implementing national policies regarding chronic disease management and publicizing chronic disease management, but the policy framework was not complete, the integration within the departments in the health system was poor, and shortages of professional hypertension managers and sufficient financial support were serious. At the meso level, various medical institutions strived to promote the continuity of medical services, but the organization and deployment of family doctor teams and the promotion and use of information systems still needed to be further strengthened. At the micro level, the cooperation between patients and their families and the family doctor team needed to be improved, and the involvement of patients and their families in hypertension management should be enhanced as well.

The implementation of hypertension management in Shandong's rural areas is good generally, but the following efforts should be made for improvements: vigorously strengthening the leadership and supervision role of the government, formulating and integrating relevant policies, and promoting the integration of relevant departments; increasing financial support, and addressing the relatively shortage of health human resources and improving the weakness of informatization construction in rural areas to promote the delivery of high-quality medical services; attaching importance to the interaction between patients and families, health service team and community partners to promote patients' self-management.