Seeking healthcare services post-stroke: a qualitative descriptive study exploring family caregiver and stroke survivor perspectives in an asian setting

Abstract Aim Exploration of the healthcare journey post-stroke is incomplete without acknowledging the crucial role of family caregivers. With limited literature documenting the role of caregivers in the healthcare journey post-stroke, we aimed to describe the healthcare experiences of family caregivers and stroke survivors across different caregiver identities in Singapore. Methods We conducted a qualitative descriptive study involving semi-structured interviews with transcripts analysed using thematic analysis. 26 stroke survivors and 35 family caregivers purposively sampled from multiple settings. Results Findings were summarized into seeking care and experience of healthcare encounters. Seeking care comprised of the following themes: factors influencing seeking care, decision to seek care and role of caregiver in seeking care. Experience of healthcare encounters comprised of the following themes: service around the patient, service with care and role of caregiver in healthcare encounters. Conclusion Multi-dimensional role of caregivers in healthcare experience emerged as a major finding. Unique to our Asian context, as per the participants’ accounts, family caregivers seemed to be central in healthcare decision-making for stroke survivors, with adult-child caregivers commonly reported being engaged in collaborative decision-making. While spousal caregivers preferred a relational healthcare experience, adult-child caregivers preferred a transactional one. Practical implications include equipping caregivers with skillset to make healthcare decisions, provision of supportive decision-making environment for caregivers and reinforcing communication aspects in the medical, nursing and allied healthcare curriculum to improve healthcare experience