Relationship of Physiotherapy Intervention and the Level of Community Reintegration of Stroke Survivors In Accra, Ghana

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 involved51 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