A Study on Factors Influencing The State of Adaptation of The Hemiplegic Patients

Abstract

The purposes of this study are to delineate a profile of the state of a stroke patient's adaptation at 3 months after hospitalization and to explore the relationship between the level of adaptation and the variables which influence the adaptation of hemiplegic patients. To these ends, theoretical framework was derived basically from the stress adaptation model. The basic assumption underlying the level of adaptation is influenced by the presenting focal, contextual and residual stimuli. This group of stimuli is further operationalized and represented by a perception of stress, which is the perceived effect of the disability and by the mediating variables such as sociodemographic factors as an external conditioning variables and perceived social support and hardiness personality characteristics as an internal intervening variables. The dependent variables in this study is the level of physical, psychological and social adaptation and is hypothesized to be a function of the interaction between 3 sets of variables namely, the perceived disability effect, external conditioning variables and internal intervening variables. A total of fourty three subjects from 3 general hospitals in Seoul were observed and interviewed with the aid of 7 structured instruments. The data were collected twice on each subject: first, at the pre-discharge period and at 3 months post-discharge from hospital for the second time. The study was carried out for the period from February to August, 1988. The instruments used for the study include 4 existing scales and 3 scales developed by the researcher for this study. They are: 1) The ADL dependency scale and the scale of the clinical physical functions for the assessment of physical adaptation. 2) the SDS (self report of depression) to measure the level of psychological adaptation. 3) The scale for the amount of social activities for the measurement of the level of social adaptation. 4) The scale for the perceived effect of disability for the measurement of the focal stimuli. 5) The health related hardiness scale and the perceived interpersonal support self evaluation list (ISEL) for the measurement of the hardiness personality character and the perceived social support. The data obtained were analyzed using percentage, one way ANOVA, Pearson coefficients correlation and stepwise multiple regression. The findings provide valuable information about the present level of physical adaptation at 3 months after discharge. The patient revealed a decreased ADL dependency and lowered limitation of physical function as compared with pre-discharge state. Psychologically, the average degree of depression at follow up was within normal range of depression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)