The impact of illness perceptions on post-stroke activity engagement and the moderating role of gender

Research Objectives: The objective of the study was to describe the illness perceptions of community-dwelling individuals with stroke in the first two years post-stroke. Specifically, it was to examine whether illness perceptions are associated with activity engagement and to explore the moderating role of gender in this relationship.

Design: This study used a cross-sectional design.

Setting: Various rehabilitation settings in Beijing, China, including 4 hospital-based rehabilitation outpatient clinics, 2 rehabilitation centers, and 2 community rehabilitation health stations.

Participants: 202 community-dwelling individuals with stroke in the first two years post-stroke.

Interventions: Not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: The Stroke-Specific Illness Perceptions Questionnaire-Revised was used to measure illness perceptions and the Assessment of Life Habits was used to measure activity engagement at the personal and societal levels.

Results: Stronger perceptions of consequences and controllability were related to better performance in activity engagement at the personal level; stronger perceptions of coherence were related to better performance in activity engagement at the societal level. In addition, gender differences in the relationship between illness perceptions and activity engagement were described.

Conclusions: How stroke individuals perceived their conditions dictated their levels of activity engagement in their community of residence.

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.