Impact of social support on participation after stroke in Nigeria

Participation which entails involvement in life situations and represents a higher level of functioning can be severely restricted after a stroke. This study investigated the impact of social support on participation of stroke survivors in Nigeria.

Ninety-six community-residing stroke survivors were recruited from physiotherapy outpatient departments of two tertiary care hospitals in Northern Nigeria. Socio-demographic, clinical, participation (London Handicap Scale), and social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support) data were obtained. The impact of social support on global and domain-specific participation was examined using bivariate analyses and multiple regression analyses.

Mean (SD) age of the stroke survivors was 56.6 (12.0) years. Social support was a significant (β = 0.41, p < 0.0001) and independent determinant of the economic self-sufficiency domain of participation (p < 0.0001) in a regression model that accounted for 27% of the variance in the domain (R(2) = 0.27). Social support, however, had no independent effect on overall participation and the other participation domains namely mobility, physical independence, occupation, social integration, and orientation.

The impact of social support was significant only in the economic self-sufficiency domain of participation with higher availability of social support related to better economic self-sufficiency. This finding provides additional information on the importance of social support post-stroke.