Analyses of Studies on Swallowing Rehabilitation Program for Stroke patients in Korea

The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of studies on swallowing rehabilitation interventions for stroke patients that had been conducted in the past 5 years (2010-2014) in Korea and to examine their findings. A literature search was conducted through RISS, National Assembly Library, and KISS, and 12 papers were analyzed. Four articles were from nursing science, and 8 from other disciplines. Qualitative evaluation of the articles was conducted by using an evaluation framework that was designed by the researcher, which took into account the checklist presented by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (2013). In the results of the qualitative evaluation on the papers, 4 studies scored 7 out of 10 points, 6 studies scored between 5 and 6 points, and 2 studies scored 4 points. Intervention sessions were conducted for 25 minutes, on average, each at a frequency of 4.1 sessions per week, for a total of 33.7 sessions. This study found that direct swallowing training and comprehensive intervention of respiratory and oral, including pharyngeal were effective in relieving difficulties in swallowing. In the future, such findings are expected to be used in nursing interventions for establishment of the basis for evidence-based nursing practice.