Reviewing Factors That Predict Community Reintegration among Community-Dwelling Subacute Stroke Subjects: A Cross-Sectional Study

Community reintegration (CR) is an ultimate goal of stroke rehabilitation and lacks focused treatment strategies. Factors influencing the CR has been studied in the past, however, subjects were in chronic phase of recovery. The purpose of the study was to review the factors predicting CR among community-dwelling sub-acute stroke subjects. The cross-sectional study included 92 subacute stroke subjects. Each subject was assessed for trunk control, physical function, balance self-efficacy, fear of fall (FOF), and CR using the Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS), Stroke Impact Scale 16 (SIS-16), Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale, Fall Efficacy Scale–International (FES-I), and Reintegration to Normal Living Index (RNLI), respectively. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to associate CR with trunk control, Physical function, balance self-efficacy, FOF; and Mann–Whitney U test was used to associate the type of stroke, side of stroke, gender, and CR. A multiple linear regression was used to find which of the factors could predict the level of CR. Age (r = –0.33), physical function (r = 0.78), trunk control (r = 0.58), balance self-efficacy (r = 0.66) and FOF (r = –0.61) revealed a significant correlation (P < 0.001) with CR. However, regression analysis found physical function considered to be the strongest predictor (β = 0.655, P < 0.001) for CR followed by age and trunk control (R² = 0.638). Stroke rehabilitation should focus on improving the impairments affecting the physical function in the subacute phase to enhance CR. Additionally, one should try to incorporate environmental modification for the older stroke subjects.