Patients ’ Use of a Home-Based Virtual Reality System to Provide Rehabilitation of the Upper Limb Following Stroke

Background. A low-cost virtual reality system that translates movements of the hand, fingers, and thumb into game play was designed to provide a flexible and motivating approach to increasing adherence to home-based rehabilitation. Objective. Effectiveness depends on adherence, so did patients use the interven-tion to the recommended level? If not, what reasons did they give? The purpose of this study was to investigate these and related questions. Design. A prospective cohort study, plus qualitative analysis of interviews, was conducted. Methods. Seventeen patients recovering from stroke recruited to the intervention arm of a feasibility trial had the equipment left in their homes for 8 weeks and were advised to use it 3 times a day for periods of no more than 20 minutes. Frequency and duration of use were automatically recorded. At the end of the intervention, partic-ipants were interviewed to determine barriers to using it in the recommended way. Results. Duration of use and how many days they used the equipment are pre-sented for the 13 participants who successfully started the intervention. These figure