Original Research

Stroke survivors’ levels of community reintegration, quality of life, satisfaction with the physiotherapy services and the level of caregiver strain at community health centres within the Johannesburg area

Adrian Kusambiza-Kiingi, Douglas Maleka, Veronica Ntsiea
African Journal of Disability | Vol 6 | a296 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ajod.v6i0.296 | © 2017 Adrian Kusambiza-Kiingi, Douglas Maleka, Veronica Ntsiea | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 22 June 2016 | Published: 30 March 2017

About the author(s)

Adrian Kusambiza-Kiingi, Physiotherapy Department, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Douglas Maleka, Department of Health Sciences Education, University of Limpopo, South Africa
Veronica Ntsiea, Physiotherapy Department, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Abstract

Background: Stroke survivors are discharged home before they are functionally independent and return home with activity limitations that would not be manageable without a caregiver.
Aim: To determine stroke survivors’ levels of community reintegration, quality of life (QOL), satisfaction with the physiotherapy services and the level of caregiver strain at community health centres within the Johannesburg area.
Method: This was a cross-sectional study using the following outcome measures: Maleka Stroke Community Reintegration Measure, Stroke-specific quality of life scale, Caregiver strain index and Physical therapy patient satisfaction questionnaire.
Results: A total of 108 stroke survivors and 45 caregivers participated in this study. The average age of the stroke survivors was 54 years (standard deviation = 12.73) and 58% (n = 62) had moderate to full community reintegration. They were happy with physiotherapy services but not with parking availability and cost of services. The QOL was poor with the lowest scores for energy and highest scores for vision and language domains. Twenty five (55%) caregivers were strained. A positive correlation was found between community reintegration and satisfaction with services (r = 0.27, p < 0.0001) and QOL (r = 0.51, p < 0.0001). A negative correlation was found between community reintegration and caregiver strain (r = -0.37, p < 0.0001).
Conclusion: Most stroke survivors are reintegrated into their communities except in the areas of work and education and have poor QOL and most of their caregivers are strained; however, they are satisfied with physiotherapy services.

Keywords

Stroke; Community reintegration; Satisfaction with physiotherapy services; Quality of life; Caregiver strain

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