Background: Pressure ulcers are a serious, but preventable, secondary complication of spinal
cord injury (SCI). Pressure ulcers limit community integration, and are potentially life-threatening.
They also put an increased financial and care burden on health systems. Pressure ulcers can be
prevented by following the guidelines for good skin care and pressure-ulcer prevention
programmes. Adherence to pressure-ulcer prevention practices is influenced by a person`s
knowledge and beliefs.
Aim: To describe the knowledge, beliefs and practices about pressure ulcers of clients with SCI
who received rehabilitation at a Cape Town rehabilitation centre.
Methods: A quantitative, descriptive study, that employed consecutive sampling, was done.
Participants included in-patients (n=30), out-patients (n =33) and peer supporters (n = 8). Data
was collected during April and March 2015 with a questionnaire developed through collating
existing questionnaires and adapting them for the study context. Descriptive and inferential
analyses of data was done. To determine if any relationship existed between the variables, the
Fisher’s exact test and Kruskal-Wallis test were applied. A P-value of <0.05 was considered
statistically significant.