Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the
effects of a rehabilitation nursing program(RNP) for persons
with disabilities. Method: a quasi-experimental pretest and
post test study was used to examine the changes of patient's
mus ...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the
effects of a rehabilitation nursing program(RNP) for persons
with disabilities. Method: a quasi-experimental pretest and
post test study was used to examine the changes of patient's
muscle strength, flexibility, self efficacy and health related
quality of life at the completion of an 8-week education and
physical exercise with a Thera-Band and Exercise Ball
course. The subjects consisted of 40 adults who were
disabled. Twenty-two experimental and 18 control subjects
completed pre and post-test measures. Outcome variables
were flexibility, hand grip, elbow flexor and extensor, knee
flexor and extensor, self efficacy and quality of life.
Independent t-test and ANCOVA were used to examine group
differences by using SPSS 12.0 Result: Mean comparisons of
the change scores revealed that the experimental group
increased significantly in knee extremity flexor(p=0.035),
extensor(p=0.039), flexibility(p=0.008), self efficacy(p=0.000),
and quality of life(p=0.000). No significant group differences
were found in each patient's hand grip, elbow flexor and
extensor. Conclusion: RNP can improve lower extremity
flexibility, muscle strength, self efficacy and health related
quality of life in people with disabilities. The intervention to
tailor exercise and education to the unique needs of the
disability was suggested for further study.