Effects of an Educational Program on Illness Perception and Emergency Symptom Management among Individuals at Risk for Stroke at Health-Promoting Hospital, Sing buri Province; Thailand.
Keywords:
educational program, illness perception, emergency symptom management, strokeAbstract
This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the effect of an educational program on illness perception and emergency symptom management among individuals at risk for stroke. The study was conducted at the chronic disease clinic of a subdistrict health-promoting hospital in Singburi Province, Thailand, between February and May 2025. Sixty participants were recruited using purposive sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 30) or a control group (n = 30). The research instruments included the Stroke Illness Perception Questionnaire and the Emergency Symptom Management Questionnaire for Stroke. Content validity assessed by three experts yielded item–objective congruence (IOC) values ranging from 0.85 to 0.89. The reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) were 0.82 and 0.90, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, independent t-test, and Pearson’s product–moment correlation coefficient at a significance level of .05.
The results showed that after participating in the program, the experimental group had significantly higher illness perception scores after the intervention than before the intervention (Mean = 92.87, SD = 8.14 vs. Mean = 85.63, SD = 11.92; t(29) = 2.04, p < .05). Emergency symptom management scores also significantly increased after the intervention (Mean = 9.64, SD = 1.79 vs. Mean = 7.82, SD = 1.15; t(29) = 2.23, p < .05). In addition, post-intervention comparisons indicated that the experimental group had significantly higher scores than the control group (t(58) = 3.12, p < .05). Illness perception was moderately and positively correlated with emergency symptom management (r = .46, p < .001).
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