Abstract
Patients with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) were transferred to a recovery phase rehabilitation ward after the acute care phase after the new system establishing recovery-phase rehabilitation wards was started in April 2000. The patients received rehabilitative and nursing care in this ward. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between psychological adjustment and quality of life (QOL) in patients with CVD and to compare this relationship in patients with lateralized cerebral damage (right hemisphere, 19 patients; left hemisphere, 17 patients). Using the Japanese versions of the 36-item Short Form Health Survey for QOL and the Nottingham Adjustment Scale for psychological adjustment, we conducted a survey in three stages: on admission, hospitalization, and discharge. The results revealed that QOL in the group with right hemisphere cerebral damage (right group) and the group with left hemisphere cerebral damage (left group) did not worsen: physical health improved in the right group while physical and mental health in the left group showed rapid improved, despite being lower than in the right group on admission. QOL in both groups was almost the same o discharge. The results for psychological adjustment revealed that both groups showed adjustment in “anxiety/depression”, “disability attitude”, and “disability acceptance” during hospitalization, and psychological adjustment in both groups was similar on discharge.
