Evaluation of a long-term community based rehabilitation program for adult stroke survivors.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the functional status, leisure activity and satisfaction in adult stroke survivors participating in a community rehabilitation program, and to compare these outcomes with stroke survivors not attending any program.


METHODS
Subjects included in the study were survivors of a first stroke that received inpatient rehabilitation and were living at home at least one year post onset. Twenty seven were participants in a community rehabilitation program and 56 were non-participants. The outcome measures were the Stroke impact Scale (SIS), Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (IADLq), Activity Card Sort (ACS), and the Life-Satisfaction questionnaire (Li-Sat-9).


RESULTS
The results revealed severe stroke impact and low functioning in activities of daily living in the participant group, yet the level of participation in leisure activities improved significantly after attending the program (t=-8.1, p=0.000). The comparison with the non participant group revealed that participants were even more disabled in basic activities of daily living (as measured by the FIM) than non-participants (t=-3.1, p=0.004). However, the satisfaction rates of the participants were significantly higher than non participants from "life as a whole" and from their leisure situation (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Stroke survivors participating in a community based rehabilitation program did not show an advantage in terms of disability levels over non-participants. However, their activity level increased due to the program and their satisfaction scores were higher than non-participants.
Hartman-Maeir
Adina
A
School of Occupational Therapy, Hadassah and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. amaeir@mscc.huji.ac.il
Eliad
Yafit
Y
Kizoni
Rachel
R
Nahaloni
Irit
I
Kelberman
Hagit
H
Katz
Noomi
N
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003153:Community Health Services; D003631:Day Care, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome