Satisfaction With Activity and Participation and Its Relationships With Body Functions, Activities, or Environmental Factors in Stroke Patients

Bouffioulx E, Arnould C, Thonnard JL. Satisfaction with activity and participation and its relationships with body functions, activities, or environmental factors in stroke patients. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2011;92:1404-10. Objectives: To report the body functions, activities, and participation of stroke patients, and to investigate the relationships over time with the patients' perceived satisfaction with their level of activity and participation. Design: Descriptive. Setting: Hospital, home. Participants: Stroke patients (N=45; mean age +/- SD, 69+/-10.7y) assessed by the same examiner. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: The Stroke Impairment Assessment Set was used to measure body functions, the Mini-Mental State Examination was used to measure cognitive level, and the Depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to measure mood level. The ABILHAND and ABILOCO scales were used to measure activity, and the SATIS-Stroke questionnaire was used to measure satisfaction with activities and participation. Social and physical environmental factors were assessed by the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Checklist Version 2.1a Clinician form. checklist. Patients were assessed during the acute (1wk), postacute (3mo), and chronic (6mo) phases after stroke onset. Results: Significant changes were observed over time in stroke body functions, cognitive status, manual and locomotion abilities, and satisfaction with activity and participation. At 1 week, satisfaction with activity and participation was not related to any body functions, activities, or environmental factors. At 3 months, manual ability was the only variable that was significantly related to satisfaction. During the chronic phase, manual ability and body functions were the best predictors of the stroke patient's perceived satisfaction. However, this combination of factors predicted only 43% of the variation in the SATIS-Stroke measures. Conclusions: Satisfaction with activity and participation cannot simply be inferred from body functions and activities, because it depends on complex interactions between functional, personal, and environmental factors.