Background: Stroke causes psychological disorders and cognitive impairments that affect activities of daily living and quality of life. Physical activity (PA) in stroke recovery is beneficial. The benefits of PA on quality of life after stroke are less documented. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of a home-based PA incentive program at home in post-stroke patients in the subacute phase on quality of life. Methods: This is a prospective, randomized, single-blind, and monocentric clinical trial. Eighty-three patients were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (EG; n = 42) or to a control group (CG; n = 41). The experimental group followed a home-based PA incentive program for 6 months. Three incentive methods were used: daily monitoring with an accelerometer, weekly telephone calls, and home visits every three weeks. Patients were evaluated before intervention (T0) and after intervention (T1) at 6 months. The control group was a non-intervention group receiving usual care. The outcome was the quality of life with the EuroQol EQ-5D-5L evaluated at baseline and 6 months post-intervention. Results: The mean age was 62.2 years ± 13.6 with a post-stroke time of 77.9 ± 45.1 days. The mean values of the utility index (EQ-5D-5L) in the control group and experimental group at T1 were 0.721 ± 0.207 and 0.808 ± 0.193, respectively (p = 0.02). Discussion: Our study shows a significant difference in the Global QOL index (EQ-5D-5L) between the two groups of subacute stroke patients after 6 months of the individualized coaching program, which combined home visits and weekly telephone calls.
Keywords: home; physical activity; quality of life; stroke.