Relationship of Physiotherapy Intervention and the Level of Community Reintegration of Stroke Survivors In Accra, Ghana
Abstract
Background: Stroke is one of the major causes of death and disability in the world. During rehabilitation, there appears to be little or no emphasis placed on reintegrating the stroke survivors into their communities. The study sought out to determine the relationship between physiotherapy and the level of community reintegration among stroke survivors. Method: This observational study involved 51 stroke survivors referred to physiotherapy departments of selected hospitals in Accra. Participants completed the Reintegration to Normal Living Index and the Modified Rankin Scale at baseline and after 8 weeks of physiotherapy sessions. Wilcoxon’s test was used to assess the difference between the baseline and end point scores for reintegration and disability while Chi square and Spearman correlation were used to test for associations between physiotherapy intervention and community reintegration. A p-value of 0.05 was set. Results: The mean reintegration score at baseline was 55.5±17.00 and 76±14.00 at end point (p = 0.001) while the mean disability score at baseline was 3.43±0.67 and 2.31±0.68 at end point (p = 0.001) showing a significant level of improvement from baseline to endpoint of the reintegration and disability scores. There was a low association between duration of stroke (p=0.008) and duration of physiotherapy (p=0.038) with regards to reintegration 8 weeks post physiotherapy. Conclusion: Physiotherapy plays a role in the reintegrating of stroke survivors into their communities. Incorporation of community reintegration into rehabilitation programmes for stroke survivors could be useful. Efforts to include physiotherapy to reintegrate stroke survivors could therefore be strengthened.All authors who submit their paper for publication will abide by following provisions of the copyright transfer: 1. The copyright of the paper rests with the authors. And they are transferring the copyright to publish the article and used the article for indexing and storing for public use with due reference to published matter in the name of concerned authors. 2. The authors reserve all proprietary rights such as patent rights and the right to use all or part of the article in future works of their own such as lectures, press releases, and reviews of textbooks. 3. In the case of republication of the whole, part, or parts thereof, in periodicals or reprint publications by a third party, written permission must be obtained from the Managing Editor of JPRM. 4. The authors declare that the material being presented by them in this paper is their original work, and does not contain or include material taken from other copyrighted sources. Wherever such material has been included, it has been clearly indented or/and identified by quotation marks and due and proper acknowledgements given by citing the source at appropriate places. 5. The paper, the final version of which they submit, is not substantially the same as any that they had already published elsewhere. 6. They declare that they have not sent the paper or any paper substantially the same as the submitted one, for publication anywhere else. 7. Furthermore, the author may only post his/her version provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication in this journal and a link is inserted wherever published. 8. All contents, Parts, written matters, publications are under copyright act taken by JPRM. 9. Published articles will be available for use by scholars and researchers. 10. IJPRM is not responsible in any type of claim on publication in our Journal. .