ABSTRACT: Stroke ranks top five causes of mortality in Malaysia with the rate of
8.3/100,000 population. Stroke are characterised by acute neurological deficits and mostly
associated with vascular causes. Risk factors which contribute towards 90% of overall stroke
are hypertension, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol intake, psychosocial
stress, atria fibrillation, smoking, high cholesterol and diabetes. Thus, appropriate secondary
stroke prevention is required in modifying these risk factors via educational intervention. The
aim of this article is to provide a review of literature pertaining to the risk factors associated
with stroke highlighting the lifestyle risk factors. Furthermore, this review will also discuss
upon the importance of systematic patient education process and applying health promotion
theories in lifestyle intervention. Various educational techniques nurses and other healthcare
professional can adopt to address lifestyle behavioural changes following stroke will be
discussed briefly in this paper.