Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of aquatic exercise on rehabilitation in home stroke patients.
Method: A quasi-experimental pretest and posttest design was used to examine the change of balance, ADL, IADL, pain, depression and self-efficacy at the completion of 6-weeks aquatic exercise program. The subjects consisted of 25 adults who had a stroke. Thirteen experimental and twelve control subjects completed pre and post test measures. Outcome variables were balance, ADL, IADL, pain, depression and self-efficacy. Chi-Square test(Fisher’s exact method) was used to examine the equality of the subjects and Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test used to examine the group difference by using SAS.
Results: There was no significant difference in balance and depression between the two groups. However, there was a significant difference in ADL, IADL, pain and self-efficacy between the two groups.
Conclusion: Aquatic exercise can improve ADL, IADL, self-efficacy and reduce pain. Therefore, further research is recommended by increasing the length of aquatic exercise and number of subjects, so that its effects can be more generalizable.
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