Abstract
Stroke is a leading cause of death and a major cause of disability globally. Individuals with physical disabilities, including thosewho have suffered a stroke are at risk of secondary complications due to the impact of their disability, which may be exacerbated by their lifestylechoices. The aim of the present study was to determine the health riskbehaviours and factors that influence these behaviours of stroke patients inthe Metropole Region of the Western Cape, South Africa. A cross – sectionalsurvey, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire on a convenient sampleof 417 stroke patients, was used to collect data. A sub-sample of 10 parti-cipants was purposively selected for in-depth, face-to-face interviews.Approximately forty percent (40.3%) of the participants did not engage in physical exercise. While 30.2% smoked only9% abused alcohol. A significant association was found between age and smoking (p<0.002). Information gathered in the in-depth interviews revealed factors that influenced the behaviours of the participants. These factors includedlack of financial resources and lack of access to information. As participants were found to be at risk of secondarycomplications because of poor lifestyle choices, there is a clear need to implement health promotion programmes topromote well-ness enhancing behaviours in order to enhance the quality of health of patients who have suffered astroke in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Highlights
Disabled individuals, including those who have suffered a stroke, are highly susceptible to secondary health complications, which may arise after a primary disability (Pope and Tarlov 1991)
The aim of the present study was to determine the health risk behaviours and factors that influence these behaviours of stroke patients in the Metropole Region of Western Cape, South Africa
This study revealed that participants were partaking in a number of health risk behaviours
Summary
Disabled individuals, including those who have suffered a stroke, are highly susceptible to secondary health complications, which may arise after a primary disability (Pope and Tarlov 1991). According to the South African National Guideline on Stroke and Transient Ischaemic Attack Management (2001), such risk factors place individuals who have suffered a primary stroke at greater risk for a second stroke In this era of evidence based medicine, there is an increasing onus on physiotherapists to base their interventions on evidence whenever possible, and to use outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. The outcome measures used to assess the effectiveness of physiotherapy for ICU patients have predominantly comprised physiological data (eg haemodynamic and respiratory parameters) This is an important oversight, from the patients’ perspective who seek empathy, kindness and care (Gurry, 2001; Gurry, 2002; Potter et al, 2003), and from the physiotherapists’ perspective, as patient satisfaction can have such a major influence on compliance with treatment
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