Dysphagia Awareness Deficits after Stroke
Patrizia Consolmagno, Cristina Flosi
Oropharyngeal dysphagia following stroke has a relevant impact on clinical and functional outcome, patient’s emotional well-being, social participation and quality of life. The common deficit of dysphagia awareness is well-known to practitioners in clinical practice. These deficits can impact on therapeutic alliance and patient and caregiver’s compliance during assessment and therapy delivery. Furthermore, patients may be resistant to treatment or show a reduced compliance with diet recommendations, swallowing strategies/maneuvers and therapy exercises. Awareness of deficits plays indeed an essential role in therapy engagement and rehabilitation gains, although the degree of this relationship is still unspecified. Few studies have extensively explored the issue of reduced patient awareness of dysphagia. The main aim of this study is therefore to investigate current knowledge and practise on patient dysphagia awareness deficits to offer practitioners a theoretical and clinical framework.
Keywords
Dysphagia, Awareness deficit, Stroke, Compliance.
