Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop an empowerment program as a nursing intervention for the patients having an acute stroke and to determine the effects of the program on their motivation, depression, and activities of daily living(ADLs). Methods: An non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. Sixty subjects were recruited from two separated institutions: 31 patients were allocated into experimental group and 29 were into control group. Six week empowerment program was provided to the experimental group. The study was conducted from November 2006 to March 2007. Results: After 6 week empowerment program, rehabilitation motivation was significantly increased in the experimental group in comparison to the control group(t=-2.173, p=.036). There were no significant differences in depression and ADLs between experimental and control groups. Conclusion: The empowerment program effectively increased rehabilitation motivation of patients with stroke, while did not improve the levels of depression and ADLs. Future long-term intervention may benefit the patients more in terms of depression and ADLs when considering the acute stage of the patients in this study.