[Rehabilitation with proper physical activities--what happens with patients' quality of life?]

During their rehabilitation stay at Beitostølen Healthsports Centre patients daily participate in varied forms of adapted physical activities, physiotherapy, and leisure and social activities. Support for mental and social problems is offered. A total of 189 patients were invited for quality of life assessment; 132 consented to participate, and 107 completed the investigation. Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), Life Satisfaction Scale (LiSat) and three questions regarding self-rated physical and mental health and disability were used for assessment. For NHP total score, satisfaction with life as a whole (LiSat), and questions regarding self-rated physical/mental health and disability improvements from one month before until three months after the stay were statistically significant. Improvements were also significant for subscales regarding emotional reactions, energy, pain, sleep, sexual life, family life, hobbies/interests, leisure situation and social isolation. Although this study did not include controls, the results indicate that a rehabilitation stay with adapted physical activities improves the quality of life of the patients until at least three months after the stay. Effects are probably mediated through improvement of self-efficacy.