Community-based Group Rehabilitation Program for Stroke Patients With Dysphagia

Community-based Group Rehabilitation Program for Stroke Patients With Dysphagia: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Community-based exercise programs have demonstrated potential for implementation in older adults; however, it remains imperative to ascertain whether this strategy will yield comparable benefit in stroke patients with dysphagia.Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group. Patients in the intervention group received swallowing function training in community public spaces for 5 days every week for four-week period (60 minutes per day). Patients in the control group received no intervention. Penetration-Aspiration Scale and Standardized Swallowing Assessment (SSA), depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale-15), and meal duration were assessed before and after all the treatment.

Stroke is complicated by oropharyngeal dysphagia in 29 to 81% of patients. Up to 40% of these individuals continue to experience swallowing difficulty even after a year later, which is associated with an increased risk of consequences such as aspiration pneumonia, dehydration, and malnutrition.

Community-based exercise programs have demonstrated potential for implementation in older adults; however, it remains imperative to ascertain whether this strategy will yield comparable benefit in stroke patients with dysphagia.Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group. Patients in the intervention group received swallowing function training in community public spaces for 5 days every week for four-week period (60 minutes per day). Patients in the control group received no intervention. Penetration-Aspiration Scale and Standardized Swallowing Assessment (SSA), depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale-15), and meal duration were assessed before and after all the treatment.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age over 65 years old.
• No hospitalization within the past six months.
• With clear consciousness and able to cooperate with questionnaires and training.
• The elderly people who voluntarily participate and agree to adhere until the end of the study.
• early dysphagia.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Complicated with severe liver and kidney failure, tumors, or hematological disorders.
• Physical disability.
• Simultaneously receiving other therapies that might influence this study.
• Individuals with a gastrostomy.
• Abnormalities of the oral, pharyngeal, or esophageal structures.