Comparison of time use, role participation and life satisfaction of older people after stroke with a sample without stroke.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study investigated the time use, role participation and life satisfaction of older Australians (aged 65 years and older) who were 1-3 years post-stroke and living in the community. The results of this study were compared with a published study on the time use, role participation and life satisfaction of older Australians who had not experienced stroke.

METHODS

Twenty-three participants with stroke (mean age 74.2 years, 69.6% men) were interviewed using measures of time use, role participation and life satisfaction.

RESULTS

Participants with stroke spent most of their time in sleep (7.2 h/day), solitary leisure (7.0 h/day), social leisure (3.0 h/day), and basic activities of daily living (2.9 h/day). Compared to the sample without stroke, participants with stroke spent significantly less time in sleep, instrumental activities of daily living, and volunteer work, and significantly more time at home, with others, and engaged in solitary leisure. Similar to the sample without stroke, the most common roles for participants with stroke were family member, friend, and home maintainer. Participants with stroke engaged in fewer roles than participants without stroke. Unlike the sample without stroke, role loss was not correlated with life satisfaction for participants with stroke; however, having more roles was correlated with greater life satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

Experiencing a stroke can affect the configuration of older people's time use and reduce their role participation. Facilitation of older people's role participation after stroke may enhance their life satisfaction.