Caregiving Self-efficacy and Knowledge Regarding Patient Positioning Among Malaysian Caregivers of Stroke Patients

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.