Evaluation of the Status of Participation and Autonomy of Stroke Patients in Kerman in 2020: A Descriptive Study

Stroke is one of the most important and common causes of death and nervous system failure, worldwide. Therefore, areas of life in which the patient does not participate well should be identified. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the status of participation and autonomy of stroke patients.

This is a descriptive study conducted in 2020 on 384 stroke patients in Kerman. Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire (IPA-p) was used to assess the status of patients' participation and autonomy. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance, multiple linear regression, independent t-test, and Pearson’s correlation test.

In this study, the total participation score of the questionnaire was reported 3.40±0.23. The highest participation score (3.80±0.69) was related to the area of activities inside or around the house and the lowest participation score (2.12±0.88) was related to the area of using and taking care of their money. According to multiple linear regression analysis, the mean score of participation and autonomy in men was lower than women (B=-0.371, p=0.012). The economic situation was reported to be the strongest predictor among all variables. The studied variables also explained 30.4 percentage of the changes in the participation score.

The results of the present study showed that stroke patients had less than 70 percentage participation in half of the questionnaire areas. The weakest area was the use and care of their money. It is necessary to take appropriate measures to improve the areas in which patients have weak participation.