Knowledge and awareness regarding stroke among general population: A cross-sectional survey :Mamta Choudhary, Journal of Applied Sciences and Clinical Practice

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2021 | Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | Page : 42--45

Knowledge and awareness regarding stroke among general population: A cross-sectional survey

Mamta Choudhary
College of Nursing, AIIMS, New Delhi, India

Correspondence Address:
Ms. Mamta Choudhary
Faculty, College of Nursing, AIIMS, Delhi
India

Abstract

Background: Stroke is one of the major causes of loss of quality-adjusted life years and inflicts varying degree of physical deficits, psychological distress, and strained social relationships among stroke survivors. However, knowledge regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke can help to minimize this burden. Aim: This study aims to assess knowledge and awareness of general population regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted to collect information from general population regarding risk factor, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke by administering a pretested questionnaire. Five hundred patients attending Outpatient Departments of Selected Hospital were selected using simple random sampling. After explaining purpose of the study and taking written consent from the participants, the participants were requested to fill the questionnaire. Results: The findings revealed that only 22.6% of participants were having good knowledge, 56.6% were having average knowledge, and rest 20.8% of them had poor knowledge regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke. The mean knowledge score was 11.86 ± 3.651. 31.4%, 36.2%, and 33.6% of participants were not aware about even single risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke, respectively. Conclusion: The low level of knowledge regarding risk factor, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke indicates immense need of initiatives to implement stroke education.

How to cite this article:
Choudhary M. Knowledge and awareness regarding stroke among general population: A cross-sectional survey.J Appl Sci Clin Pract 2021;2:42-45

How to cite this URL:
Choudhary M. Knowledge and awareness regarding stroke among general population: A cross-sectional survey. J Appl Sci Clin Pract [serial online] 2021 [cited 2023 May 28 ];2:42-45
Available from: http://www.jascp.org/text.asp?2021/2/2/42/324118

Full Text

Introduction

Stroke being a considerable burden of disability is among major chronic illnesses worldwide causing loss of quality-adjusted life years. The onset of stroke is sudden, and its ability to affect virtually all human functions is making it the second leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide.[1],[2],[3] As per the World Health Organization, the prevalence of stroke will be increased at faster pace in upcoming years due to the aging population and changing lifestyle in the industrialized countries.[4] As the risk of stroke increases with advancing age, developing countries like India with increasing life expectancy can face enormous rehabilitation burden of stroke victims. Due to the prolonged recovery time, the stroke survivors suffer from varying degree of physical deficits, psychological distress, strained social relationships, and many times from poor family support.[5] Rapid evolution has occurred in stroke therapy in the past few years, but ironically only a few stroke patients reach to medical facility in time both in the developed and developing countries perhaps due to the lack of knowledge regarding warning symptoms and need of quick response.[6] Research studies from various part of the world have identified insufficient knowledge of risk factors, warning signs, and need of quick response as a major factor contributing to stroke-related mortality and morbidity;[7],[8],[9] however, evidence from Indian setting is very limited; thus, this study was conducted with an objective to assess knowledge and awareness of general population regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke. The findings of the study can contribute to practice of primary care by helping health-care workers to identify areas to lower level of knowledge regarding stroke, which is important to be known before the development and implementation of effective health education programs.

Materials and Methods

The cross-sectional study was conducted in the Outpatient Departments of Selected Hospital, New Delhi, over a period of 6 months. Eligibility criteria for inclusion included adult Outpatient Department (OPD) patients who can understand or read Hindi language and were willing to participate in the study. Five hundred patients were attending medical and surgical OPDs and no history of stroke were recruited in the study using simple random sampling. Information was collected by administering a pretested questionnaire to the participants. The questionnaire related to sociodemographic variables and knowledge items related to risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke was developed by reviewing literature. The literature review focused on published articles from the Medline, CINAHL, Social Sciences Citation Index, Psych INFO, a hand search through selected published journals, and from references lists. However, Journals that lacked the authentication of legitimate scholarly journals such as peer review, editing, editorial boards, editorial offices, and other editorial standards were excluded from the review.[10] The questionnaire comprised three sections: the first section focused on sociodemographic profile of participants, the second section comprised questionnaire to assess knowledge regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke, and the third section comprised open-ended questions to ascertain awareness of participants regarding stroke. The sociodemographic profile of the study assessed information regarding age, gender, education, and habitat of the participants. Questionnaire related to knowledge items regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke consisted of twenty multiple-choice questions. Questionnaire related to awareness had three open-ended questions where participants were asked to list down risk factors, warning signs, and first aid management for stroke. They were asked to answer do not know if they were not aware about these variables.

After establishing content validity of the instrument, it was translated to vernacular language. Permission to conduct study was taken from the ethical committee and concern authority of the selected hospital. After explaining purpose of the study and taking written consent from the participants, the participants were asked to fill the questionnaire in the presence of nursing staff. They were not permitted to communicate with each other. Data were coded, validated, and analyzed using SPSS (version 21, IBM corporation, US). Each of the twenty multiple-choice questions was rated using a score of one for correct answer and zero for an incorrect answer, with a total score ranging from 0 to 20. Participants having a score above 70th percentile, i.e. with score of 15 and above were regarded as having good level of knowledge. Three open-ended questions were analyzed using descriptive analysis.

Results

The majority 67.3% of the participants were of the age group of <40 years with mean age of 33.86 years and standard deviation of 12.27. Maximum 54% of participants were males and 46% were females. The majority 66% of participants belonged to urban community, and the rest were from rural community. Maximum 61% of participants were either graduate or above, and 39% were educated up to senior secondary or less. The result revealed that only 22.6% of participants were having good knowledge, 56.6% were having average knowledge, and rest 20.8% of them had poor knowledge regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke [Table 1]. The mean knowledge score was 11.86 ± 3.651. Association between knowledge regarding risk factors, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke with selected sociodemographic variable, i.e. age, gender, habitat, and educational level of participants was found to be nonsignificant, i.e. P < 0.05.{Table 1}

The majority (62.6%) of participants had described hypertension as risk factors of stroke followed by cholesterol (61.4%), age (57.6%), and smoking (45.2%). Almost equal number of participants, i.e. 40.8% and 39.2% were aware about smoking and family history, respectively, as risk factors for stroke. Diabetes (19.6%) and alcohol use (17.4) were least identified risk factors by the participants. However, 31.4% were not aware about even any single risk factor of stroke [Table 2].{Table 2}

Maximum 56.8% and 52.2% of participants describe slurred speech and weakness in arm, respectively, as warning sign for stroke. Numbness (20.6%) and difficulty in understanding (17%) were least known as warning signs of stroke. Moreover, 36.2% of participants were not knowing even a single warning sign for stroke [Table 3].{Table 3}

The majority 62.2% of participants reported that ambulance or doctor should be called as first aid management of stroke. About 29.4% responded to loosen constrictive clothing, and 21.6% identified the need to check the consciousness of stroke victim as first aid measures. However, 33.6% were unaware about first aid measures to be taken for stroke victims [Table 4].{Table 4}

Association between awareness regarding risk factor, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke with selected sociodemographic variable, i.e. age, gender, habitat, and educational level of participants was found to be nonsignificant, i.e. P < 0.05.

Discussion

This study aimed to assess knowledge and awareness regarding risk factor, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke. The study found that <1/4th of the participants (22.6%) was having good knowledge regarding stroke. Saengsuwan et al. in their study found that knowledge of stroke in patients with recurrent stroke was insufficient.[11] Hypertension (62.6%), cholesterol (61.4), and age (57.6) were the most described risk factor by the participants. However, 31.4% were not aware about even any single risk factor of stroke. The findings are similar to various previous researches where 8%–52% of participants were not able to name any of the stroke risk factor.[12],[13],[14],[15] The majority of participants were able to recall slurred speech (56.8%), weakness in arm (52.2%), and vision problems (33.4) as warning signs of stroke. Unfortunately, more than one-third of participants (36.2%) were not able to recall even a single warning sign of stroke finding are consistent with a survey conducted by Slark et al.[14] where 34% of 622 stroke survivors in the UK failed to identify any of the warning signs of stroke. Agbetou Houessou et al.[16] in their study found that only 4.9% of the participants were able to cite at least one symptom of stroke. The majority 62.4% that ambulance or doctor should be called as first aid management of stroke. However, more than one-third of participants (33.6%) were unaware about first aid measures to be taken for stroke victims.

Conclusion

The low level of knowledge regarding risk factor, warning symptoms, and first aid management of stroke identified in the current study indicates immense need of initiatives to implement stroke education to general population. Education programs should focus on those at risk and those who can be used as resource for first aid management of stroke.

Acknowledgment

I am thankful to the nursing staff who supervised patients while data collection so that they do not interact with each other to prevent contamination of data. I am thankful to the ethical committee of selected hospital for providing ethical permission to conduct the study.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

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