Objective To investigate the effects of nursing intervention guided by Orem’s self-care theory on nega-tive emotions and self-care ability in stroke patients. Methods This study included 166 stroke patients who were admitted to a hospital in Fushun City from September 2018 to September 2019. Using a random number table

the patients were divided into a control group and an observation group

with 83 cases in each group. Patients in the control group were given routine nursing care

and patients in the observation group were given nursing inter-vention under the guidance of Orem’s self-care theory on the basis of routine nursing care. Modified barthel index（MBI）

clinical mood index score and Hamilton depression rating scale（HAMD） score were compared between the two groups before nursing care and at the time of discharge. Results At the time of discharge

the MBI score of patients in the observation group was（51.17±6.46）

which was higher than that of the control group

which was（43.02±9.20）

with a statistically significant difference（P<0.05）. The HAMD score of the observation group was（11.85±2.74）

which was lower than the control group’s（12.17±5.02）

and the difference was sta-tistically significant（P<0.05）. The clinical mood index score for depressed mood

anxiety and irritability

de-creased interest and sleep disturbance in the observation group were（1.12±0.55）

（1.20±0.37）

（0.79±0.50） and（0.83±0.70）

respectively

which were lower than the control group’s（1.60±0.64）

（1.70±0.72）

（1.01±0.42） and（1.22±0.48）

and the differences were statistically significant（P<0.05）. Conclusion Nursing intervention under the guidance of Orem’s self-care theory can effectively improve the activities of daily life and depression of stroke patients and improve their self-care ability.It exhibits significant clinical effects

and thus is worthy of wider clinical application.