Adherence of Primary Caregiver To Post Stroke Dysphagia Recommendations In Pakistan

Objective: To find the adherence of primary caregivers to post-stroke dysphagia recommendations in Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jun 2019 to April 2020. Methodology: We recruited 92 primary caregivers of either gender aged ≥ 18 years, assisting stroke patients with dysphagia in feeding and activities of daily living. Caregivers of cases with multiple disabilities, those not aware of dysphagia recommendations and those not involved in the implementation of dysphagia recommendations were excluded. Caregiver Mealtime and Dysphagia Questionnaire (CMDQ) were used for data collection. Results: Out of 92 Caregivers 17(18.48%) were non-compliant while 75(82%) reported significant compliance to dysphagia recommendations with mean scores of 3.11±0.48 and 1.98±0.51, respectively. In addition, the significant difference between scores of compliant and non-compliant groups was noted for the domains of Quality, Avoidance and Disagreement (p<0.001). Conclusion: Most primary caregivers were compliant and adhered to the dysphagia recommendation of stroke in Pakistan