A home rehabilitation program for stroke patients - A pilot study

The purpose of this study was to develop a rehabilitation program wherein t he stroke team, patient and family act as partners in the rehabilitation pr ocess initially at hospital and subsequently on discharge for 4 weeks in th e stroke patient's home. The study attempted to address the stroke patient' s functional ability and life satisfaction from a holistic viewpoint. A qua si-experimental design was used. Thirty-two stroke patients participated in the intervention group and nine in the control group. The intervention gro up improved in functional ability after 4 weeks at home. They also particip ated in activities and were generally more active than the control group. N inety percent of the families in the intervention group experienced high li fe satisfaction levels after the training period. However, this satisfactio n decreased after 6 months, and one year post-stroke, the patient and famil y's life satisfaction levels increased once more. It is likely that being g iven the opportunity to make one's own decisions, to be more active and mot ivated led to improvements in patients' daily life functions as they were a ble to carry out their preferred activities in the comfort of their own hom e. The program shortened the admission time for the intervention group by o ne-third.