The elderly stroke patient's long-term adherence to physiotherapy home exercises

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this study was to describe elderly stroke patients’ experiences with a focus on how physiotherapists can facilitate the rehabilitation through empowerment to achieve increased long-term adherence to physiotherapy home exercises. The study has a phenomenological perspective, focusing on participants’ life world. Qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis. Purposive sampling was used to select eight stroke patients from a chosen community in Norway. All were aged 67 years or older and had been discharged from physiotherapy inpatient rehabilitation for at least 6 months. Following a pilot study, data were collected by semi-structured interviews that were recorded and transcribed following each interview. Each participant was sent a copy of his/her own transcript to read through and verify. The results from the content analysis revealed two main themes described as “varying degrees of empowerment” abstracted from the categories “empowerment present” and “lack of empowerment”, and “various degrees of adherence” abstracted from the categories “existing adherence” and “non-existing adherence”. Features of patients, physiotherapists and the organization influenced the rehabilitation process and the attainment of empowerment and adherence. This study emphasizes the importance of empowerment in achieving patient adherence to long-term therapies in rehabilitation. To achieve satisfactory and thorough stroke rehabilitation through long-term adherence to physiotherapy home exercises, patients need to be aware of joint decision making and their role in the process and reframe their expectation of “being rehabilitated”.