OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of home-based rehabilitation on improving physical function in home-dwelling patients after a stroke. DATA SOURCES: Various electronic databases, including PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and 2 Chinese data sets (ie, Chinese Electronic Periodical Services and China Knowledge Resource Integrated) were searched for studies published before March 20, 2019. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized controlled trials conducted to examine the effect of home-based rehabilitation on improving physical function in home-dwelling patients with a stroke and published in English or Chinese were included. In total, 49 articles in English (n = 23) and Chinese (n = 26) met the inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: Data related to patient characteristics, study characteristics, intervention details, and outcomes were extracted by 2 independent reviewers. DATA SYNTHESIS: A random-effects model with a sensitivity analysis showed that home-based rehabilitation exerted moderate improvements on physical function in home-dwelling patients with a stroke (g = 0.58; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.70). Moderator analyses revealed that those patients with stroke of a younger age, of male sex, with a first-ever stroke episode, in the acute stage, and receiving rehabilitation training from their caregiver showed greater improvements in physical function. CONCLUSIONS: Home rehabilitation can improve functional outcome in survivors of stroke and should be considered appropriate during discharge planning if continuation care is required.

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