Informal Caregivers’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice on the Prevention, Care, and Healing of People With Pressure Injuries: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of informal caregivers toward patients with pressure injury (PI) at Tier-3 Grade A hospitals and their community and nursing homes. METHODS: Data for this single-center cross-sectional study were collected from informal caregivers of patients with PIs who visited the outpatient department within 6 months of the patient’s hospital discharge. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit 239 subjects from April 2022 to April 2023. In the final analysis, 213 informal caregivers completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: The total score, knowledge score, attitude score, and behavior score were 36.17±3.49, 0.04±0.25, 26.07±3.63, and 10.05±3.27, respectively. There was a positive and significant relationship between the 3 variables. Relationship between caregivers and family members and their practices ( P <.05). Findings revealed that the caregiver’s job status can significantly positively affect knowledge scores (β=0.032 >0, P <.05). The caregiver’s job status can significantly negatively affect knowledge scores (β=−0.581 <0, P <.05). The health of the caregiver can significantly positively affect knowledge scores (β=0.912 >0, P <.05); the caregiver’s job status can significantly positively affect practice scores (β=0.386 >0, P <.05). Whether to assist or not can significantly positively affect practice scores (β=1.141 >0, P <.05). The caregiver’s health can significantly positively affect practice scores (β=0.633 >0, P <.05). CONCLUSIONS: The study found that informal caregivers had suboptimal knowledge and that most caregivers showed inadequate practices in preventing PI. Given the threat to patient safety, health care center managers must develop comprehensive plans with input from the health care team. Educational initiatives for PI prevention and coordinated nursing services for at-risk patients are essential.