Background

Most family caregivers of stroke patients in Malaysia do not receive adequate prior preparation or training. This study aimed to determine levels of patient positioning knowledge and caregiving self-efficacy among caregivers of stroke patients.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted at an urban teaching hospital involving 128 caregivers of stroke patients. The caregivers were conveniently sampled and completed the data collection forms, which comprised their socio-demographic data, patients’ functional status, the Caregiving Knowledge For Stroke Questionnaire: Patient Positioning (CKQ-My© Patient Positioning) to measure caregiver’s knowledge on patient positioning, and the Family Caregiver Activation Tool (FCAT©) to measure caregivers’ self-efficacy in managing the patient. Descriptive and multivariate inferential statistics were used for data analysis.

Results

Among the caregivers sampled, 87.3% had poor knowledge of positioning (mean score 14.9±4.32). The mean score for FCAT was 49.7±6.0 from a scale of 10 to 60. There was no significant association between knowledge on positioning and self-efficacy. Multiple linear regression showed that caregivers’ age (B= 0.146, p= 0.003) and caregiver training (B= 3.302, p= 0.007) were independently associated with caregivers’ self-efficacy.

Conclusion

Caregivers’ knowledge on the positioning of stroke patients was poor, despite a fairly good level of self-efficacy. Older caregivers and receiving caregiver training were independently associated with better caregiver self-efficacy. This supports the provision of caregiver training to improve caregiver self-efficacy.