Zhimin Liu,1,2,* Xingyao Lu,2,3,* Yunyun Li,2,4 Yanfang Luo,1 Fen Ye,1 Renjuan Sun5 

1Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Wuxi School of Medicine, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Gynecology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Endocrinology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Nutrition, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Renjuan Sun, Department of Nutrition, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, No. 1000 hefeng Road, Wuxi City, 214100, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-18861530573, Email Sunrenjuan360@163.com

Objective: To investigate medication self-management in patients with stroke and its relationship with general demographics, self-efficacy and medication literacy.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Patients with stroke who received treatment in Jiangnan University Affiliated Hospital between July 2023 and January 2024 were selected as the study participants. The General Characteristics Questionnaire, the Self-Efficacy for Appropriate Medication Use Scale (SEAMS), the Chinese version of the Drug Literacy Scale and the Self-Administration of Medication tool were used to investigate patients with stroke and to analyse the factors influencing the self-management of their medication.
Results: A total of 210 patients were included in this study. The average score of medication self-management was 66.71 (standard deviation = 9.55), and SEAMS and medication literacy scores were positively correlated with the total score of medication self-management behaviour. Furthermore, we found that the Barthel index (BI), SEAMS and medication literacy scores were the main predictors of medication self-management behaviour (R2 = 0.790, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: This study found that patients with stroke with a lower BI and higher SEAMS or medication literacy scores also had higher levels of medication self-management. The factors discussed in this study may help develop individualised interventions in medication self-management for patients with stroke.

Keywords: stroke, medication self-management, medication literacy, self-efficacy