The Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Nursing for Stroke Recovery: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews

Objective: Stroke remains a leading cause of disability worldwide, and rehabilitation nursing plays a crucial role in patient recovery to achieve functional outcomes. While multiple systematic reviews have examined rehabilitation nursing interventions for stroke patients, decision-makers continue to face challenges in synthesizing evidence from reviews of variable quality and scope. This study systematically identified, appraised, and synthesized findings from systematic reviews of the efficacy of rehabilitative nursing for stroke recovery. Design: We conducted a systematic review of existing systematic reviews. Methods: A comprehensive search of the PubMed, CINAHL, Europe PMC, and Google Scholar databases identified systematic reviews published in 2010-2025. Publications written in English were included. Two reviewers independently screened the studies and assessed their quality using AMSTAR 2. Data extraction focused on nursing interventions, patient outcomes, and quality indicators. Results: From 141 records, 5 systematic reviews (17,445 participants) were included. AMSTAR 2 classified 2 studies as high-quality and 5 studies as moderate-quality. Early rehabilitation nursing achieved the largest motor function effect (SMD = 2.688, p<0.001) and improvement in cure rate (RR = 1.333). Psychological nursing reduced depression symptoms (SMD = -0.92, p<0.001) and improved daily activities (SMD = 1.94, p<0.001). Nurse-led acute management reduced door-to-needle time by 19.71 minutes (p=0.005) and 3-month mortality by 44% (OR = 0.56). High heterogeneity was observed (I² = 63-99%). Conclusions: Rehabilitation nursing interventions, particularly early rehabilitation and psychological nursing, demonstrated significant efficacy in promoting stroke recovery. High heterogeneity suggests a need for standardized protocols. These findings provide evidence-based guidance for clinical practice and identify areas requiring further research.