Treatment compliance and subjective well-being among post-stroke patients

Abstract

The quality of life (QOL) and the factors that influenced it were studied in patients suffering from stroke. QOL was studied at 2 separate levels: 1) compliance with the advice of a physician, 2) subjective well-being. A patient with high QOL was defined as a person with both high compliance to the advice of a physician and high subjective well-being. Subjects were selected from persons who participated in rehabilitation at health centers and welfare centers, and members of a stroke patient. The following results were obtained. 1) When compared to results obtained from other research for the general population, subjective well-being in stroke patients was lower among men and those 69 years of age or under. Compliance with advice of a physician was higher for either sex and all age groups in the interviewees than in the general population. 2) Factors which were related to compliance differed from those related to subjective well-being. Compliance with the advice of a physician was higher among those interviewees having the shortest time elapsing since the occurrence of stroke, high social support and low psychological adaptation to the stroke experience. Among social support network members, relatives figured prominently among factors related to compliance. Among interviewees, subjective well-being decreased with depression, high degree of impairment in activity of daily living, and when three years or greater had elapsed since the stroke. Among these factors the relationship between depression and subjective well-being was the strongest.