A prediction model of health‐related quality of life in young adult patients with stroke

Abstract Aims and objectives This study aimed to establish and test a predictive model for explaining the health‐related quality of life of young adult patients with stroke. Background Individual characteristics, biological and physiological variables, social support, emotional and cognitive symptoms, physical function disability and general health perception may be interrelated and may directly or indirectly affect the health‐related quality of life of young adult patients with stroke. Design A cross‐sectional study. Methods 237 young outpatients with stroke were recruited and surveyed. Data collection used a structured questionnaire from July–November 2018. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 25.0 ® and AMOS 23.0. This study is based on STROBE guidelines. Results The hypothetical model's fit indices were adequate. Stroke severity, social support, fear of stroke recurrence, physical function disability and general health perceptions directly affected the health‐related quality of life. Additionally, stroke severity, depression and fear of stroke recurrence also indirectly affected it. These variables explained 60.3% of the variance in this quality. Conclusions Variables such as severity of stroke, depression, fear of stroke recurrence, social support, physical function disability and general health perception were found to be related to the HRQoL of young adult patients with stroke. Relevance to clinical practice A variety of physical, psychological, functional and social factors related to health‐related quality of life should be systematically monitored. Furthermore, nurses need to develop and apply detailed nursing interventions that take into account all these variables.