Nursing adherence, barriers and facilitators to conduct post‐stroke dysphagia screening and assessment: A study based on theoretical domain framework

Abstract Background There are an increasing number of evidence‐based recommendations for managing dysphagia in post‐stroke patients. However, it is unclear whether nurses adopt these recommendations in their daily nursing practices. Aims This study aimed to explore nurses' adherence, barriers, facilitators and views on dysphagia screening and assessment of post‐stroke dysphagia. Methods In this study, multiple methods were adopted. In Phase 1, a general information questionnaire and a knowledge‐attitude‐practice and barriers/facilitators questionnaire for dysphagia screening and assessment were distributed in 55 hospitals online. In Phase 2, semi‐structured interviews were conducted to explore nurses' views on barriers. Descriptive and one‐way variance analyses were used to analyse the quantitative data, while content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. This study adheres to STROBE and COREQ guidelines. Results Nine hundred and forty‐two completed questionnaires were collected. Only 36.52% of the nurses screened for swallow function in patients as a guideline. The biggest barrier was ‘memory, attention and decision process’, with an average score of 3.22 (.74). The different stages of implementation had various types and degrees of barriers ( p < .001). Five themes were extracted after interviews, namely ‘Inadequate environment and resource support’, ‘Increased workload’, ‘Professional value perception’, ‘Organisational culture’, and ‘Poor knowledge and skill’. Conclusions Nurses' practice of dysphagia screening and assessment of patients with dysphagia after stroke were inadequate, and the barriers originated from patients, leadership and the nurses themselves. Relevance to clinical practice This research extracted five barriers of guidance adherence for post‐stroke dysphagia screening and assessment and identified the different kinds and degrees of barriers in five implementation stages, providing a basis for nursing managers to break through the bottleneck of guideline implementation. Patient or public contribution The nurses recruited in this study completed validated questionnaires in the survey and suggestive answers in interviews.