PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop an empowerment program as a nursing intervention for the patients having an acute stroke and to determine the effects of the program on their motivation, depression, and activities of daily living(ADLs). METHODS: An non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. Sixty subjects were recruited from two separated institutions: 31 patients were allocated into experimental group and 29 were into control group. Six week empowerment program was provided to the experimental group. The study was conducted from November 2006 to March 2007. RESULTS: After 6 week empowerment program, rehabilitation motivation was significantly increased in the experimental group in comparison to the control group(t=-2.173, p=.036). There were no significant differences in depression and ADLs between experimental and control groups. CONCLUSION: The empowerment program effectively increased rehabilitation motivation of patients with stroke, while did not improve the levels of depression and ADLs. Future long-term intervention may benefit the patients more in terms of depression and ADLs when considering the acute stage of the patients in this study.
Activities of Daily Living ; Depression ; Humans ; Motivation ; Power (Psychology) ; Stroke

PURPOSE: The purpose of this meta-analysis isto identify social psychological factors related to quality of life and estimate the effect sizes of the factors among patients with strokes. METHODS: Thirteen studies with a total of 1,814 patients published from the earliest records to January 8, 2017 were selected through a systematic process of searching the literature, and evaluated against influencing factors of quality of life and their effect sizes. Pooled effect sizes were calculated using the random effect model. Meta-analysis was conducted by R software. RESULTS: The following influencing factors had a strong association with quality of life with stroke: depression (r=−.50; 95% CI: −0.63~−0.46), activities of daily living (r=.46; 95% CI: 0.35~0.56), and social support (r=.40; 95% CI: 0.24~0.53). CONCLUSION: The findings confirm that depression, activities of daily living and social support are associated with quality of life among patients with stroke survivors. We recommend that any intervention program to improve the quality of life with stroke patients consider addressing these modifiable influencing factors.
Activities of Daily Living ; Depression ; Humans ; Psychology ; Quality of Life ; Stroke ; Survivors

PURPOSE: This study was done to examine fatigue in elderly people with chronic pain and identify factors influencing fatigue. METHODS: Participants in the study were 296 elders suffering from pain for more than 6 months. The data were collected by personal interviews using questionnaires and were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients, t-test, ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 15.0 version. RESULTS: The mean score for fatigue was 30.5, and fatigue showed a significant positive correlation with depression (r=.57, p<.001), perceived stress (r=.12, p=.035) and pain disability (r=.52, p<.001), but a negative correlation with social support (r=-.21, p<.001) and ADL (r=-.22, p<.001). Depression was found to be a significant predictor of fatigue. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that psychological factors like depression have more influence on fatigue in elders than physical activities or daily capability. Therefore, it is important to consider psychological factors which influence fatigue as well as the fatigue itself in order to efficiently control fatigue.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged* ; Analysis of Variance ; Chronic Pain* ; Depression ; Fatigue* ; Humans ; Motor Activity ; Psychology ; Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to know the state of caregiver burden of family caregivers of patients with dementia and also to know factors associated with the severity of caregiver burden. METHODS: Family caregivers of dementia patients were enrolled from five general hospitals in Daegu Metropolitan city, Korea. The participants analyzed in the present study were 199 subjects who were 24 to 86 years old, living in Daegu or Kyungsang Bukdo province. Demographic features, general characteristics, characteristics of caring patients were collected and Burden Interview was done by a psychologist. Factors affecting caregiver burden were assessed using statistical analyses. RESULTS: The average severity of caregiver burden of family caregivers were between mild and moderate. Factors affecting the severity of caregiver burden were caregiving days per week among caregiver's characteristics and Neuropsychiatric Inventory and Geriatric Depression Scale among patient characteristics by multiple regression linear analysis. Caregiving cost shows marginal significance. Interestingly, cognitive scales like Mini-Mental State Examination, Clinical Dementia Rating, Physical and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living did not affect caregiver burden of family caregivers. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that caregiving days per week of caregivers and neuropsychiatric symptoms including depressive mood of patients are closely related with caregiver burden of family caregivers of patients with dementia in Korea.
Activities of Daily Living ; Caregivers* ; Daegu ; Dementia* ; Depression ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Korea ; Methods ; Psychology ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVE: Several types of interspinous process(ISP) devices have the common goal of limiting lumbar extension. In this study, we selected patients aged older than 60 years with lumbar spinal stenosis and assessed whether ISP devices are more beneficial in elderly patients with lumbar spinal stenosis than simple decompression. METHODS: Eighteen patients were treated with the Interspinous U device, and 17 patients were treated with decompre- ssion alone during the same period. Clinical results were assessed using the pre- and postoperative visual analogue scale(VAS) and activities of daily living(ADL). Radiologic results were assessed according to pre-and postoperative anterior disc height, posterior disc height, foraminal height, spondylolisthesis, segmental coronal angle and lordotic angle at the treated level. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients in the interspinous device group was 66.9 years(range 60-78 years), and the mean age of the patients in the decompression group was 70.6 years(range 60-80 years). The mean pre- and postoperative VAS scores were 8.5 and 3.8, respectively, in interspinous devices group and 7.7 and 2.5 in the decompression group. Both groups of patients showed significant improvement in their VAS and ADL scores in comparison with their preoperative scores. Radiologically, there were no significant differences in anterior and posterior disc height or foraminal height in the interspinous devices group. Coronal and lordotic angles were reduced postoperatively in the device group but not in the decompression group. Listhesis at the treated level was significantly aggravated in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: The ISP device was helpful in alleviating pain and improving ADL performance in elderly patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. It corrected segmental scoliosis and restricted extension. However Interspinous U may induce spondy- lolisthesis and do not prevent further displacement of preexisting spondylolisthesis. There should be careful selection to apply of this device in elderly patients.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Decompression ; Displacement (Psychology) ; Humans ; Scoliosis ; Spinal Stenosis ; Spondylolisthesis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of biofeedback exercise training on muscle activity and activities of daily livings (ADL) in hemiplegic patients. An experimental group consisting of 17 people, was given biofeedback exercise training for 30- 60 minutes per week for 5 weeks, while a control group consisting of 18 people, was given normal exercise with quasi-experimental design. RESULT: The results of the study show that biofeedback exercise is effective for improving muscle activity in hemiplegic patients, especially in the hemiplegic limbs. However, this study found no significant differences in ADL and IADL between the experimental and the control groups. It implies that ADL and IADL may not be improved for a short period of time, such as 5 weeks, for people with more than five years of hemiplegia. The study suggests that the effect of biofeedback exercise on ADL and IADL should be determined in hemiplegic patients in acute stage.
Activities of Daily Living ; Biofeedback, Psychology* ; Extremities ; Hemiplegia ; Humans ; Muscle Strength ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Stroke*

This longitudinal study examines the burdens and related factors for stroke patient's primary family caregivers. Sixty-one patients treated for stroke at a general hospital in Chung-nam province and family member caregivers participated in this study from July 28, 1998 to August 1, 1999. Family caregivers' burdens were assessed by the burden scale originally developed by Zarit(1980) and Novak &Geust(1989) and modified by Oh's(1993) for use in Korea. The burden scale instrument consists of five subscales.: financial burden, social burden, physical burden, dependency burden, and emotional burden. Repeated ANOVA and Stepwise multiple regression were used in the data analyses. The results were as follows: The burden mean score was 3.23 in the hospital, 3.26 after hospital release, and 3.27 in the home environment. In the hospital, a patient's degree of cognition, and social support for family caregivers were significant factors affecting the sense of burden felt by family caregivers. After hospital release, the significant factors affecting the sense of burden were the degree to which stroke patients could participate in daily living activities, social support for family caregivers, and changing to a second caregiver. In the home environment, the most significant factor affecting the sense of burden was social support for family caregivers.
Activities of Daily Living ; Caregivers* ; Cognition ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Korea ; Longitudinal Studies* ; Statistics as Topic ; Stroke*

OBJECTIVE: To examine the usefulness of the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) in ataxic stroke patients. METHOD: This was a retrospective study of 54 patients following their first ataxic stroke. The data used in the analysis comprised ambulation status on admission and scores on the SARA, the Korean version of the Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI) and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). The subjects were divided into four groups by gait status and into five groups by level of dependency in activities of daily living (ADLs) based on their K-MBI scores. Data were subjected to a ROC curve analysis to obtain cutoff values on the SARA for individual gait status and levels of activity dependency. The correlations between the SARA, K-MBI and BBS scores were also computed. RESULTS: There was significant correlation between the SARA and the K-MBI scores (p<0.001), and this correlation (r=-0.792) was higher than that found between the BBS and the K-MBI scores (r=0.710). The SARA scores of upper extremity ataxia categories were significantly related to the K-MBI scores of upper extremity related function (p<0.001). The SARA scores were also significantly correlated negatively with ambulation status (p<0.001) and positively with ADL dependency (p<0.001). In the ROC analysis, patients with less than 5.5 points on the SARA had minimal dependency in ADL, while those with more than 23 points showed total dependency. CONCLUSION: SARA corresponds well with gait status and ADL dependency in ataxic stroke patients and is considered to be a useful functional measure in that patient group.
Activities of Daily Living ; Ataxia ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Gait ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Stroke ; Upper Extremity ; Walking

PURPOSE: This study was to develop and evaluate a folk play program as a nursing intervention for the elderly with dementia. METHOD: First, a folk play program was developed through a careful study of literature review and field-work. Second, a nonequivalent control group pre-post test was designed. The subjects of the study were the elderly with dementia staying in nursing homes; 15 were in an experimental group adopting a folk play program developed through this study, 18 in the control group on a gymnastics and walking program which is generally used. The 40 min. intervention was conducted 5 times a week for 4 weeks. RESULT: The folk play program improved the cognition(t=6.12, p<.001) and ADL(t=2.92, p=.014) and diminished the frequency of problematic behaviors significantly(t=-6.39, p<.001). There was a significant difference of cognition, ADL, and problematic behaviors between the control and the experimental group before and after the experiment(t=3.38, p=.002; t=2.05, p=.046; t=-7.74, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Compared with the gymnastics and walking program, the folk play program proved to be much more effective in the elderly with dementia in improving their cognition and ADL, as well as in diminishing their problematic behaviors. Therefore, a folk play program should be appliedas an effective and practical Korean nursing intervention for the elderly with dementia.
*Play Therapy ; Male ; Humans ; Female ; Dementia/*psychology/therapy ; *Cognition ; Aged, 80 and over ; Aged ; *Activities of Daily Living

BACKGROUND: Physical disability may result in some impairment of the score for Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of physical disability on IADL in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), subcortical vascular dementia (SVD), and vascular mild cognitive impairment of the subcortical type (svMCI). METHODS: Fifty-six patients with AD, 30 with SVD, 27 with aMCI, and 21 with svMCI were recruited consecutively from a memory clinic. Informants for the subjects completed a Korean version of the IADL (K-IADL). In addition, the informants were asked to choose the cause of each dependent activity of K-IADL from the following: cognitive impairment, physical disability, or both. The cause of the physical disability was defined as being focal neurologic symptoms, other physical disease, or both. RESULTS: Compared to AD patients, SVD patients had higher K-IADL scores [2.02+/-0.80 (mean+/-SD) vs. 1.45+/-0.90, p<0.01] and focal neurologic signs (FNS; 8.0+/-5.8 vs. 0.0+/-0.0, p<0.001), and lower Barthel Index scores (14.7+/-5.1 vs. 19.6+/-1.2, p<0.001). Patients with svMCI had higher FNS (3.8+/-4.5 vs. 0.0+/-0.0, p<0.001) compared to those with aMCI. The most common cause of dependency of activities in K-IADL was cognitive impairment in AD, aMCI, and svMCI patients, and the combined effect of cognitive impairment and physical disability in those with SVD. The cause of physical disability was FNS in 96% of SVD patients and in all patients with svMCI. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of FNS as well as cognitive impairment should be considered when measuring the IADL of the patients with SVD or svMCI.
Activities of Daily Living ; Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia, Vascular ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Humans ; Memory ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Neurologic Manifestations