1Department of Speech Language Pathology, College of Health Science, Honam University, 417, Eodeung-daero, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
2Department of Physical Therapy, Nambu University, 23, Cheomdanjungang-ro, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
*Corresponding Author: Sunghyoun Cho Department of Physical Therapy, Nambu University, Republic of Korea E-mail: geriatricpt@naver.com Phone: +82-62-970-0232
Online published on 21 September, 2018.
The early detection, treatment of swallowing disorder, and prevention of complication is crucial, which requires recognition and knowledge of stroke and swallowing disorder. This study explored level of knowledge of the elderly on swallowing disorder caused by stroke in the local communities and suggests basic materials for the development of educational programs for swallowing disorder.
The subjects of the study were 135 elderly over the age of 65 without the history of stroke in the local communities. Factors related to the level of knowledge of the elderly in the local communities were analyzed by using multiple regression analysis.
In the crude model, age (B=-0.37) had significant negative relationship with the knowledge on swallowing disorder (p<0.05) while gender (B=1.31), level of education (B=4.41) and average monthly household income (B=3.85) had significant positive relationship with the knowledge on swallowing disorder (p<0.05). As the result of the adjusted model with all the compounding variables adjusted, age (B=-0.25), level of education (B=2.27) and average monthly household income (B=1.95) turned out to be the factors which had significant effect on the knowledge of the elderly on swallowing disorder in the local communities.
It is necessary to develop educational programs to prevent and manage swallowing disorder for the elderly who are aged and have low income and low level of education.
Risk factors, Stroke, Knowledge of swallowing disorder, Swallowing disorder, dysphagia
