Stroke
Conditions
Brief summary
The study will administer an intervention called strategy training to adult stroke survivors living in the community who do and do not have pets, and will examine the role of a pet in promoting cognitive performance and community participation outcomes.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALStrategy Training
Strategy training is comprised of participant-selected activity based goals, self evaluation, global problem solving strategies, and therapist-delivered guided training. The strategy training therapist will guide participants using prompting questions, as well as work sheets that facilitate learning and aid the participants in implementing the process.
Sponsors
University of Haifa
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
The proposed study is a single site, two-group quasi-experimental design comparing the effects of strategy training on rehabilitation engagement, cognitive performance, and community participation of home-dwelling stroke survivors living with and without pets. The investigators will also conduct qualitative interviews with participants who have pets.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Stroke survivors with pets Inclusion Criteria: 1. Primary diagnosis of acute stroke 2. At least 3 months after the stroke onset 3. Living in a community residence with a pet 4. Cognitive impairment as indicated by an Executive Interview score of 3 or higher 5. Participation restrictions as indicated by an Activity Card Sort (\<80% of pre-stroke activities) 6. Willing to participate in a 6-week program with 2 intervention sessions per week at home
Exclusion criteria
1. Dementia as indicated by Montreal Cognitive Assessment score of 18 or lower 2. Severe aphasia as indicated by the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination Severity Score of 0 or 1 3. Self-report of a central nervous system disorder other than stroke 4. Recent drug or alcohol addiction/abuse within 3 months prior to the Mini-Neuropsychiatric Interview 5. Severe mental illness as indicated by the PRIME-MD 6. Prior exposure to strategy training 7. Currently participate in rehabilitation therapy programs Stroke survivors without pets Inclusion Criteria: 1. Primary diagnosis of acute stroke 2. At least 3 months after the stroke onset 3. Living in a community residence 4. Cognitive impairment as indicated by an Executive Interview score of 3 or higher 5. Participation restrictions as indicated by an Activity Card Sort (\<80% of pre-stroke activities) 6. Willing to participate in a 6-week program with 2 intervention sessions per week at home
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mean engagement score as measured by the Pittsburgh Rehabilitation Participation Scale | Baseline to 6 weeks | The scale is a valid and reliable criterion referenced measure that assesses engagement in rehabilitation therapy sessions. Each session is scored by the occupational therapist, 1 (no participation, refusal) to 6 (excellent participation). Scores are averaged across the 10-15 intervention sessions to generate the mean engagement score. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in community participation as measure by Community Participation Indicators score | Baseline to 3 months | This participant reported questionnaire will measure the frequency of community participation over a 7 days period. Each item is measured on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1=no participation in that activity and 5=7 days of participation in that activity. A total of 20 items are summed to yield a total score. Change in community participation will be calculated by subtracting baseline total score from the 3 month total score. |
| Change in attention as measured by the Color Trail Test 1 | Baseline to 3 months | This measure assesses perceptual tracking, sustained attention and grapho-motor skills. It is a pencil and paper, timed test. Completion time in seconds for each task is recorded, with a lower score representing better function. Change in attention will be calculated by subtracting the time to do the task at baseline from the time to do the task at 3 months. |
| Change in executive function as measured by the Color Trail Test 2 | Baseline to 3 months | This measure assesses divided attention and sequencing skills, which are executive function performance. It is a pencil and paper, timed test of effortful executive processing abilities that assesses the ability to alternate between two colors. Completion time in seconds for each task is recorded, with a lower score representing better function. Change in executive function will be calculated by subtracting the time to do the task at baseline from the time to do the task at 3 months. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactNaor Domotor, PhD
Backup ContactElizabeth Skidmore, PhD
Outcome results
None listed