JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Stroke is increasingly one of the main causes of impairment/disability. Several socio-economic reasons force more stroke survivors to undergo rehabilitation at home without supervision. Several approaches have been developed providing systems for stroke patient home self-rehabilitation.

Objective:

This paper presents a review of state-of-the-art home rehabilitation systems through a patient-centric approach. Engagement enhancement of rehabilitation system as well as motivation are analysed to identify the challenges in technology uptake.

Methods:

A critical comparison is demonstrated in this paper through a set of criteria addressing the need for better home rehabilitation systems in terms of patient involvement. The criteria are categorised based on (i) motivation (ii) acceptance and (iii) technological aspects affecting the incorporation of state-of-the-art technology in practice.

Results:

Through the detailed literature review and comparative analysis we demonstrate that there is no system reported in the literature that addresses all the set criteria. Most systems successfully address a subset of the criteria, but a system that successfully addresses all set goals of the ‘ideal’ self-rehabilitation system for home use is still missing.

Conclusions:

The paper identifies a gap in the state-of-the-art and proposes a set of criteria for a novel system to enhance patient engagement and motivation and deliver better self-rehabilitation commitment. The criteria were identified as non-intrusive, non-wearable, motivation and engagement enhancing, individualised, supporting daily activities, cost effective, simple and transferable.