Assessment of Utilization of Rehabilitation Services among Stroke Survivors

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation is probably one of the most important phases of recovery for many stroke survivors. The current study was conducted with the objective to assess the utilization of rehabilitation services and factors affecting nonutilization of rehabilitation services among the stroke survivors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The current study was carried out in the Neuro Outpatient Department of a tertiary care hospital in India. It was a descriptive study. Consecutive 55 stroke survivors who had met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited in this study. Self-structured rehabilitation tool was used to collect the data. RESULTS: Data were analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics. Majority of the patients comprised 70.9% of males and 29.1% of females. Among participants, 70.90% were aware about rehabilitation, 67% were utilizing rehabilitation services, whereas 33% were not utilizing rehabilitation services. In the current study, certain reasons were found behind not utilizing rehabilitation services. There were 83.3% of participants who had lack of awareness about rehabilitation services and 61.1% of participants who had no availability of rehabilitation services. Only 45.5% of rural inhabitants were utilizing rehabilitation services as compared to 81.2% of urban inhabitants and 83.23% of suburban inhabitants. CONCLUSION: Rehabilitation is of utmost importance. Hemiparesis, difficulty in performing activity of daily living, difficulty in performing social activities, and difficulty in reasoning were the most common problems faced by people suffering stroke after discharge from the hospital. There was lack of awareness and utilization of rehabilitation services by patients among Indian stroke population. Hence, health workers have an immense role in educating, motivating, and ensuring that rehabilitation services in rural inhabitants.