Zeinab Hussain Ali
Stroke is an increasing problem with advancing age which may result in many physical disabilities affecting daily activities. The nurse can help stroke patients with best utilization of their remaining physical and functional abilities. This study aim was to assess the effect of application of nursing care strategies on the functional and physical abilities of patients following stroke. The study was carried out at Elnasr Insurance Hospital, in Helwan City, Egypt using a controlled quasi-experimental design. It involved 60 stroke patients equally divided into an intervention group and a control receiving the routine hospital care. The researchers developed and implemented an individualized plan of care for each patient in the intervention group based on assessment, priorities, goals, and expected outcomes.
The Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL) was used to assess the effect of the intervention at three and six months follow-up. The results demonstrated significant improvements only among the study group patients at the 3 and 6-month follow-up (p<0.001) in both physical and functional domains as well as in total QOL. A strong positive correlation (r=0.87, p<0.001) was found between the improvements in the scores of physical and functional QOL. Multivariate analysis showed that being in the study group and attending the intervention program were statistically significant independent predictors of score improvement. In conclusion, the implementation of nursing care strategies is successful in improving stroke patients’ physical and functional status and QOL. It is recommended to generalize
such strategies in the routine hospital care. Future research is suggested to assess the effect of such interventions on family caregivers’ burden.