Effectiveness of adherence intervention programmes for home exercises in stroke survivors: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials

Abstract: To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve adherence to self-administered home exercise (HE) among stroke survivors and to examine their effects on functional recovery outcomes.

Design

A systematic review conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Data sources like PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Ovid and Scopus were searched from database inception to July 2026. Eligibility criteria: Randomised controlled trials involving adults aged ≥18 years with a confirmed diagnosis of stroke were eligible for inclusion. Studies were required to evaluate interventions specifically designed to improve adherence to self-administered HE and to report at least one adherence-related outcome. Data extraction and synthesis: Two reviewers independently conducted study screening, data extraction and risk-of-bias assessment. Methodological quality was assessed using the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised trials (RoB 2).