Background and Aim: Stroke is one of the chronic diseases throughout the world and is one of the main causes of long-term disability. Balance problems with the prevalence of %87. 5 are common symptoms among stroke patients. This impairment limits the physical capacity of the individual and the inability to perform activities of daily living in the home and in the community and reduces the Functional independence of the individual. Therefore, one of the most important goals in rehabilitation is the improvement in balance because balance abilities are one of the important components of independence in activities of daily living, transfer, and fall, but ultimately, the return of Functional independence is the most important goal of rehabilitation after a stroke. According to that Functional independence is affected by several factors such as balance and that knowing the prerequisites for independence in the work can help the team to more accurately plan, reduce the cost of treatment and save time and cost the patient, so the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between balance and Functional independence in patients with stroke. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional case study. The statistical population of the study is the patients with stroke referred to Tehran health care and rehabilitation centers in 1396. The sample size was 32 with a formula, but with access to more samples, 83 patients with stroke were eventually sampled. Inclusion criteria include diagnosis of stroke from a neurologist, at least 6 months and a maximum of 36 months from the onset of illness, the ability to perform evaluation tests used in the research, the absence of vision and hearing problems based on the diagnosis of a physician and score More than 23 of the mini-mental state examination. exclusion criteria include lack of patient collaboration in research, transient ischemic attack in the past 6 months, aphasia, perceived abnormalities, the presence of other simultaneous neurological diseases, including Parkinson, epilepsy, seizure, etc. To measure the variables, mini-mental state examination, Berg balance scale, and Functional independence measure were used. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Results: The results of this study showed that according to the results of Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, both balance and Functional independence do not follow the normal distribution (p <0. 05). According to the Spearman correlation test, the correlation between balance and Functional independence in stroke patients with a correlation coefficient of 0. 83 and p <0. 001 indicates a strong correlation between these two variables. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that there is a strong correlation between balance and Functional independence in stroke patients and it indicates the importance of balance in independence in performing activities of daily living.

Background: In current years, the increase in older population has led to creating one of the main public health challenges, worldwide. Because of the special characteristics of older adults, this age group is exposed to possible problems, such as mental and physical disorders, that usually affect their Functional independence. The study aimed to determine the psychosocial determinants (e. g., depression, social support, and self-efficacy) affecting Functional independence among older population. Methods: Our search was conducted on three international databases (Web of Sciences, PubMed/Medline, and Scopus) for all the observational studies (cross-sectional, cohort or longitudinal designs) on the social and psychological determinants of Functional independence among older adults. Papers published in English without limitation of time were reviewed from inception to 26 August 2023. The quality assessment tool was the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The I2 index was used to quantify the degree of heterogeneity among the studies. In the case of heterogeneity higher than 50%, the random effects model has been used for overall estimation of the effects,otherwise, the fixed effects model was used. The pooled associations were expressed as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Stata version 14 software (StataCorp LP) was used for data analysis. The significance level was considered at 0. 05. Results: In the initial search, 6978 articles were retrieved, and finally, considering the inclusion criteria, 46 articles were examined. Finally, 18 articles were eligible for meta-analysis. The findings indicated that among all the determinants affecting Functional independence among older adults, depression could lead to a 76% increase in Functional dependence. Conclusion: The findings provide a statistically significant relationship between psychosocial factors and Functional independence. Depression was the strongest determinant of Functional dependence among older adults.

Objectives: This study aimed to detect the relationship between body mass index (BMI), selective voluntary motor control (SVMC), and Functional independence in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (CP) with levels II and III of gross motor function classification system. Methods: A total of eighty-four children with spastic diplegic CP, aged 6-9 years with a mean age of 7.09±0.68 participated in this correlational study. BMI, selective control assessment of the lower extremity (SCALE), and pediatric Functional independence measure (WEE FIM) were used for the assessment of BMI, SVMC, and Functional independence, respectively. Results: The results demonstrated the presence of a positive strong significant correlation between SCALE and WEE FIM, a negative strong significant correlation between WEE FIM and BMI, and a negative moderate significant correlation between BMI and SCALE. Discussion: Functional independence is significantly correlated with BMI and SVMC in children with spastic diplegic CP. This study provides original evidence that BMI and SVMC are major factors that influence Functional independence in these children. So, they are highly recommended to be part of the evaluation of their Functional independence in clinical settings and research.