Association Between Demographic Characteristics and Compliance of Stroke Patients to Prescribed Unsupervised Home Exercise Programmes

Abstract

Background: Recovery of stroke patients to the pre-stroke status is not usually spontaneous and rehabilitation efforts continue beyond the sub-acute phase usually after hospital discharge.

Objective: To investigate whether stroke patients recuperating at home complied with prescribed Unsupervised Home Exercise Programme (UHEP) and what demographic characteristics were associated with non-compliance.

Methods: We administered questionnaires assessing full compliance and demographic characteristics of 108 consenting stroke patients attending the Outpatient Physiotherapy Clinics of two hospitals in Kano, Nigeria.

Results: Seventy-four percent of the participants were non-compliant with their UHEP. Stroke over one year with Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.1, 95% CI=1.823-3.315, polygamy (OR=3.1, 95% CI=2.661-5.012), occupying rented apartment (OR=10.8, 95% CI=2.037-28.319) and living with non-family members (OR=4.6, 95% CI=1.324-11.765) were significant predictors of non-compliance while gender, age group, marital status, education, monthly income and building type were not significant predictors (P>0.05).

Conclusions: Most patients did not comply with their UHEP. Some of the socio-demographic factors responsible were duration of the stroke above one year, polygamy, living in rented apartment and with non-family members. Risk factors for non-compliance should be adequately considered when planning UHEP for stroke patients in order to enhance compliance.