Abstract
This study clarified the effects of voluntary training with family outside of regular rehabilitation training on stroke patient's mobility and activities of daily living (ADL), as well as uneasiness of family care after returning home. The subjects were 22 first-ever stroke patients presenting with moderate or high-level hemiplegia who returned home and the family. They were divided into two groups based on the frequency of their families' participation per week: "the high frequency group" and "the low frequency group." The groups were compared by patient background, mobility and ADL. Moreover, the groups' families were compared by family's background, degree of understanding regarding patient symptoms, degree of voluntary training needed to acquire the assistance skills and degree of uneasiness about family care. There were no significant differences in background factor, mobility and ADL in two groups at discharge and after discharge. Mobility after discharge was higher than mobility at discharge in the high frequency group. ADL after discharge was lower than ADL at discharge in the low frequency group. The assistance skills of ambulation in the high frequency group were greater than those in the low frequency group. Voluntary training with high-frequency family participation was contributing to the improvement of mobility after discharge for severe stroke patients and it also learn the assistance skills of ambulation. However, this study no clarified the effects of voluntary training with family on understanding the patients' symptoms and lower family uneasiness regarding the patients' care in two groups.
