Work

Configurations Associated with High Self-Regulatory Fatigue in Patients with Stroke: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Background: Self-regulatory fatigue is common among patients with stroke and may adversely affect rehabilitation. Previous studies have mainly examined individual factors associated with self-regulatory fatigue, but how multiple stressor-related and resource-related conditions combine into distinct configurations of high self-regulatory fatigue remains unclear. Purpose: To identify configurations associated with high self-regulatory fatigue among patients with stroke using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), guided by Conservation of Resources theory. Patients and Methods: A total of 288 patients with stroke were recruited from the neurology wards of a tertiary hospital in Zhejiang Province, China. Data were collected using validated instruments assessing self-regulatory fatigue, depressive symptoms, sense of coherence, perceived social support, stroke health literacy, activities of daily living, and neurological impairment. Necessity and sufficiency analyses were conducted using fsQCA to identify conditions and configurations associated with high self-regulatory fatigue. Results: No single condition was necessary for high self-regulatory fatigue. Five configurations were identified, with an overall solution consistency of 0.937 and an overall solution coverage of 0.640. The configurations were categorised into three types: psychological-emotional resource depletion type, functional-social resource depletion type, and multi-resource synergistic depletion type. Robustness analyses supported the stability of the configurational findings. Conclusion: High self-regulatory fatigue among patients with stroke is associated with distinct configurations of psychological, functional, social, and health-management resource deficits rather than any single condition. These findings support multidimensional assessment and coordinated multidisciplinary care tailored to patients' resource profiles.

Source: Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare

DOI: 10.2147/jmdh.s647062