Abstract

CHINCHAI, Pisak  and  KHAMWONG, Peanchai. The effects of rehabilitation education for village health volunteers on walking speed and upper extremity function in stroke survivors in Thailand. S. Afr. j. occup. ther. [online]. 2017, vol.47, n.3, pp.32-38. ISSN 2310-3833.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2017/v47n3a6.

INTRODUCTION: Stroke can cause long-term disabilities to survivors. Rehabilitation is an on-going process and should, ideally, be provided to these people in their homes. This study aimed to investigate the effect that rehabilitation education provided to village health volunteers (VHVs) would have on walking speed and upper extremity (UE) function in stroke survivors who stay at home in Thailand. METHODS: Participants were recruited by purposive sampling, which included 27 stroke survivors from four municipalities in Chiang Mai and Lamphun provinces. The measuring instruments used were the Ten-Meter Walk Test and the UE motor domain of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment. Researchers presented a 7-hour rehabilitation education programme to VHVs, who then made weekly1-hour visits to the homes of stroke survivors to implement the rehabilitation programme over eight weeks. Data were collected within seven days before and again after the 8-week programme. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics and the paired t-test were applied to analyse the data. Results showed that the participants used significantly less walking time from pre-test ( X =34.73 ±8.48) to post-test ( X =32.18±9.32) (p<0.05). However, the score of UE function at pre-test (X=36.81±9.59) was not significantly different from that at post-test (X =37.26±9.67). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that trained VHVs can be part of the rehabilitation team and contribute to improved functional performance for disabled stroke survivors, particularly in developing countries.

Keywords : Hand function; gait speed; Home visit; motor function after stroke; community rehabilitation; home-based rehabilitation.

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