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Nurses’ Perspectives on Developing an Educational Intervention for Family
Caregivers of Dependent Stroke Survivors – A Qualitative Study

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M. H. Kumara, T. D. Amarasekara, S. W. Wimalasekera, G. Ponnamperuma, and S. B. Gunatilake 5
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Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, Department of Nursing and
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Midwifery, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, Department
of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, Department
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of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Department of Medicine,
Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

Background: Stroke is an unexpected event that can cause long-term disabilities for its victims. Following
the acute treatments, Stroke survivors are discharged from the hospitals with remaining disabilities, and
mostly the untrained family caregivers will take over the responsibilities of post-stroke caregiving. Thus,
caregiving skills are required to ensure proper home care in the post-stroke phase.

Objective: To explore the nurses’ perspectives on educating family caregivers of dependent stroke
survivors to improve home care.

Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted among 30 purposively selected nurses from
the selected hospital medical wards in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The selected nurses had over 3 years of
experience in the study settings. A semi-structured interview was conducted using a semi-structured
guide until data saturation. Data was analyzed using content analysis proposed by Graneheim &
Lundman. The ethical approval was obtained from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

Results: Among the participants, 17 nurses were females (13 males). Data was transcribed, coded, and
organized into 4 sub-themes, namely: “Nurses’ experience in caregiver education”, “Proposed methods of
homecare education”, “Recommendations for effective methods”, and “Potential challenges to overcome”.
Most participants indicated they have experience in educating family caregivers of stroke survivors. Still,
they were unsatisfied with their contribution due to unavoidable workload and limited resources. They
Poster Presentation Abstracts
recommended that an educational programme be delivered via electronic media with interactive
caregiving guidance through materials such as videos. They indicated that this proposed educational
intervention should address the accessibility and resource-related challenges.

Conclusion: Nurses have positive ideas on implementing an effective intervention to educate family
caregivers of dependent stroke survivors with novel technological advancements to empower their
skills and improve the quality of life of stroke survivors and their caregivers.

Keywords: caregiving skills, dependent stroke survivors, family caregivers, stroke rehabilitation, family
caregiver training

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Correspondence: Thamara D. Amarasekara, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Allied
Health Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
E-mail: thamara@sjp.ac.lk

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