Purpose
This study investigated how multimodal sensory stimulation affected Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores in stroke patients with decreased consciousness at Dr. Moewardi Hospital in Surakarta, Indonesia.
Methods
We employed a quasi-experimental approach with a pretest and posttest control group design. The control and intervention groups each contained 22 participants, all of whom were recruited via convenience sampling. The intervention group was given multimodal sensory stimulation (auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile) five times daily for a total of five days, with each session lasting 25 minutes. By contrast, the control group only received routine care from the hospital (i.e., no intervention). For statistical analysis, we used both the Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney test.
Results
We found a significant increase in posttest GCS scores for the intervention group (from 9.63 to 13.18, p=.001), but there was no significant increase for the control group (from 10.09 to 10.54, p=.085).
Conclusion
In this study, multimodal sensory stimulation effectively increased GCS scores in stroke patients with decreased consciousness. Nurses can use this intervention to improve sensory and GCS scores for such patients while in the intensive care unit.

Citations

• Impact of nurse and beloved family member’s voice stimulus on the level of consciousness and physiological parameters in comatose patients
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  Journal of Integrative Nursing.2025; 7(1): 33.     CrossRef
• A comparative study on the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation and right median nerve stimulation in patients with altered levels of consciousness: a randomized clinical trial
  Neha Raichur, Raghavendrasingh Dharwadkar
  MGM Journal of Medical Sciences.2025; 12(1): 13.     CrossRef
• Impact of auditory stimulation nursing protocol on auditory response in cerebrovascular stroke patients
  Mohammed ElSayed Zaky, Hanan Ahmed Al Sebaee, Nagat El Morsy Ibrahiem, Heba Ahmed Mohammed, Mohammad Edrees Mohammad
  Journal of Integrative Nursing.2024; 6(2): 111.     CrossRef
• Role of physical therapy intervention in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
  Sanjay Tejraj Parmar, Charulata Deshpande, Dipti Sambhajirao Kadam
  BMJ Case Reports.2024; 17(4): e257339.     CrossRef
• Implementation of Multimodal Stimulation and Physical Therapy in Improving the Level of Consciousness and Recovery in Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis
  Harsh R Nathani, Nishigandha P Deodhe, Ruchika J Zade, Grisha R Ratnani
  Cureus.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef