Knowledge and perception of clinical physiotherapy students about physiotherapy management of stroke survivors with visual impairment

Abstract

It is evident from clinical practice that visual disorders are prevalent in stroke medicine and are involved in all stages. The visual disorder may form all or part of the initial presentation, and subsequently, visual problems may be a rehabilitation issue or affect the quality of life and activities of daily living (ADLs) after stroke. This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge and perception of the clinical students of the Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, about stroke survivors with visual impairment (SSVI) and the physiotherapy management of stroke survivors who are visually impaired. This study was a cross-sectional survey involving 136 respondents who were selected from the 270 clinical students of the Department of Medical Rehabilitation at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. A 25-item questionnaire was administered to assess their level of knowledge and perception of SSVI as well as the physiotherapy management methods involved. Descriptive statistics of tables, mean, and standard deviation were used to summarize participants’ responses. The Spearman rank-order correlation was used to test for correlations. Mann–Whitney U test was used to assess sex differences. Alpha was set at .05. There was a high level of knowledge and high perception (94.1% and 91.9%) of physiotherapy management of SSVI among the clinical physiotherapy students. The level of the study did not significantly influence the knowledge (p = .386) and perception (p = .686) of the visually impaired stroke survivor. There was a significant (p = .008) relationship between age and knowledge of stroke survivors. No significant gender difference was observed in all results. The student’s age and gender did not influence their knowledge or perception of physiotherapy management for SSVI, the student’s level of study did influence the two variables.