Acceptance of disability and its predictors among stroke patients in Taiwan

BACKGROUND Modern medicine has increased the survival rate for stroke patients; however, the patient's psychosocial adaptation after stroke onset may be related to the clinical outcomes. This study aimed to investigate patients' acceptance of disability (AOD) and its predictors in stroke patients. METHODS This cross-sectional study used a purposive sampling method to recruit 175 stroke patients from a hospital in southern Taiwan. A structured questionnaire gathered data on respondent demographics and disease characteristics, and included the Chinese version of the AOD Scale-Revised. Factors associated with AOD were examined by a multiple linear regression analysis. RESULTS The mean AOD score was 71.72, which indicated a lower level of disease acceptance (range, 32-128). Our findings showed that patients who reported no religious beliefs, shorter disease duration, recurrent stroke episodes, and poorer physical functioning also reported lower levels of disability acceptance. These factors accounted for 38.2% of the variance in AOD among participants. CONCLUSIONS The findings are beneficial to healthcare providers by identifying those stroke patients with predisposition of having lower disability acceptance, which could then facilitate the provision of appropriate rehabilitation interventions within six months after the diagnosis of stroke to support their adaptation process.