Family caregivers' perceptions of hospital-based allied health services post-stroke: use of the Measure of Processes of Care to investigate processes of care.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate family caregiver perceptions of allied health professional processes of care and support in hospital following stroke, and to test an adapted version of the Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC) for its suitability of use in the stroke care setting.


METHODS
The first stage involved the adaptation and refinement of the MPOC, designed to measure caregiver perceptions of processes of professional care and support across five care dimensions. The second stage involved mailing out of questionnaires to primary caregivers of stroke survivors. A total of 107 completed questionnaires were included in the analysis. The reliability of the adapted questionnaire was assessed and summary statistics were computed.


RESULTS
The reliability of the adapted MPOC was found to be high, with good internal consistency of items within each subscale. Mean scores indicated that caregivers were most likely to report negative perceptions of the way allied health professionals engaged with and supported them, particularly in the area of information provision.


CONCLUSIONS
The number of families being affected by stroke is predicted to rise substantially in the near future. Allied health professionals have a significant role to play in supporting family caregivers. Results highlight caregiver-identified areas of weakness in current clinical practice.
Lovat
Annette
A
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia.
Mayes
Rachel
R
McConnell
David
D
Clemson
Lindy
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D010465:Perception; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011792:Quebec; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome