Educational Program for Patients with Cerebrovascular Stroke: Self-Efficacy and Quality of Life

Abstract

Context: Stroke is a main cause of disability and death worldwide. Stroke can have devastating consequences for the individual and their families. The effects can be both physical, social, and psychological. One-third of people are left with long-term disabilities, which can, in turn, have effects on the quality of life and self-efficacy.

Aim: To assess the patient's knowledge, self-efficacy, and quality of life regarding ischemic cerebrovascular stroke. Moreover, develop, implement, and evaluate the effect of an educational program on self-efficacy and quality of life of patients with ischemic cerebrovascular stroke.

Methods: A quasi-experimental (one group pre/post-test) design was utilized in the current study. This study was conducted in the Intensive Neurological Care Units (Intermediate Care) and Stroke Outpatient Clinics at El Demerdash Hospital, affiliated to Ain Shams University Hospitals, on a purposive sample of 46 patients with ischemic cerebrovascular stroke from both genders, excluding patients with comorbid conditions. Tools of the data collection include a structured interview questionnaire to assess the study sample's sociodemographic characteristics, medical data, and knowledge regarding cerebrovascular stroke; the new general self-efficacy scale to assess the patients' self-efficacy; and the 12-item Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale (SSQOL) to assess the quality of life of patients with ischemic stroke.

Results: 67.4% and 56.5% of the studied patients had a satisfactory level of knowledge regarding cerebrovascular stroke immediately after educational program implementation and at the follow-up phase, respectively, with a statistically significant difference between pre-, post, and follow-up at p=0.000; it was improved compared to pre educational program implementation. Furthermore, 67.4% of the studied patients had high self-efficacy at follow-up compared with 28.3% immediately post-educational intervention and 21.7% preintervention, with a statistically significant difference between the three study phases (p=0.000). Moreover, 54.3% of the studied patients had a good quality of life after three months of educational program implementation compared to 15.2% after one month (p=0.000); there was a positive correlation between patients' total knowledge and their self-efficacy and quality of life.

Conclusion: The educational program implementation had a statistically significant positive effect on the studied patients' knowledge and consequently affected the self-efficacy and quality of life of the patients with ischemic stroke, supporting the stated research hypothesis. The study suggests that the current educational program be applied to patients and their caregivers about warning signs of stroke, risk factors of stroke, and how to cope with disabilities that a stroke can cause to improve their self-efficacy and quality of life.