Post-stroke Nurse-led Rehabilitation to Improve Functional Activity and Community Participation in Bangladesh

Stroke causes various levels of disability which decreases physical function for a prolonged period. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a nurse-led rehabilitation program including a multidisciplinary team focused on improving the functional ability among post-stroke patients in Bangladesh. A prospective, open-label (1:1) randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted at the National Institute of Neuroscience \& Hospital (NINS\&H) in Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2026 to September 2026. Participants will be the post-stroke patients who got discharged from NINS\&H within 2 weeks after the onset of stroke and the family caregivers of the patients and meet the inclusion criteria. The sample size will be calculated based on G-Power analysis with a medium effect size and will be 166. The intervention will be designed to provide the 6-months Nurse-led rehabilitation program including a multidisciplinary team regarding self-care and the use of assistive devices. Assessment for rehabilitation will be performed by the multidisciplinary team with research nurses (RA nurses), physiotherapists (PT) and occupational therapists (OT). The control group will receive the usual care. The primary outcome is improved activity and participation measured by the Functional Independence Measurement (FIM). The secondary outcomes are improved motor function, self-efficacy, emotional status and participation ability. The endpoints will be compared at baseline, 3rd and 6th months. We assume that patients receiving rehabilitation education and assistive device progress to achieve an optimal level of independence, with improved motor function, emotional status and participation ability to re-integrate into society.