1.     INTRODUCTION
Stroke is a major public health problem that affects both short- and long-term quality of life of the patients, and is one of the top ranked diseases leading to serious mortality and morbidity1.  
In 2012 World Health Organization defined stroke as “'a clinical syndrome consisting of rapidly developing clinical signs of focal (or global in case of coma) disturbance of cerebral functions lasting more than 24 hours or leading to death with no apparent cause other than a vascular origin.'."
According to WHO 2012 data, every year 15 million people suffer a stroke which cause a permanent damage in 5 million of them. It is the third leading cause of death worldwide after coronary heart disease and cancer1, 2. Irrespective of heart diseases, it ranks 5th among causes of death3. It has been reported that the incidence of stroke in Turkey is 175 per 100 thousand people4 and it is among the top 10 causes of death seen in all age groups, while cerebrovascular diseases take the second place with an incidence of 15 percent5.
Acute stroke has devastating effects on both the patient and his/her family. It exerts many negative effects on patients including physical dysfunction, cognitive disorders and inability to perform activities of daily life6. It is the leading cause of motor handicap,  second prominent cause of dementia and the third foremost cause of death7.
Stroke patients are faced with many physical, mental, social and economic handicaps during their life time8. Patients experience restrictions in their functional independence and social relationships and are forced to make changes in their personal, social and professional goals in order to deal with the symptoms of the disease, to maintain self-care and to adapt to changes in their body images. As a result, these handicaps impose an adverse effect on quality of life (QOL) of these patients9. Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) focuses on the impact of an individual’s perceived health status10, 11.