Effect of a home leisure education program after stroke: A Randomized controlled trial

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a leisure education program oil participation in and satisfaction with leisure activities (leisure-related outcomes), and well-being, depressive symptoms, and quality of life (primary outcomes) after stroke. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Home and community. Participants: Sixty-two people with stroke. Intervention: Experimental participants (n=33) received the leisure education program at home once a week for 8 to 12 weeks. Control participants (n=29) were visited at home at a similar frequency. Participants were evaluated before and after the program by a blinded assessor. Main Outcome Measures: Change from preintervention to postinterverition in: minutes of leisure activity per day, number of leisure activities. the Leisure Satisfaction Scale, the Individualized Leisure Profile. the General Well-Being Schedule (GWBS), the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. and the Strok-e-Adapted Sickness Impact Profile (SA-SIP30). Results: There was a statistically significant difference in change scores between the groups for satisfaction with leisure with a mean difference of 11.9 points (95% confidence interval [CI]. 4.2 - 19.5) and participation ill active leisure with a mean difference of 14.0 minutes (95% Cl, 3.2-24.9). There was also a statistically significant difference between groups for improvement in depressive symptoms with a mean difference of -7.2 (95% CL - 12.5 to - 1.9). Differences between groups were not statisticallv significant on the SA-SIP30 (0.2; 95% CI, - 1.3 to 1.8) and (GWBS (2.2; 95% CI, -5.6 to 10.0). Conclusions: The results indicate the effectiveness of the leisure education program for improving participation in leisure activities. improving satisfaction with leisure and reducing depression in people with stroke.