The long-term goal of this research is to improve activity performance and reduce motor impairment in individuals with stroke. There are two primary gaps in current stroke rehabilitation practice that must be addressed to achieve this goal: (1) current impairment-based approaches (e.g. motor) are not improving meaningful activity performance; and (2) current stroke rehabilitation interventions are often not designed to be clinically feasible and are rarely implemented into practice. The overall hypothesis of this proposal is that a clinically-feasible, activity-based intervention, metacognitive strategy training (MCST), will produce a significant improvement on objective and subjective measures of activity performance and motor function in comparison to a usual care occupational therapy (OT) group. These gains will transfer and generalize to untrained tasks in novel environments.
The specific aims of this project are: (1) to evaluate the efficacy of MCST to improve subjective and objective activity performance in individuals with subacute stroke; and (2) to evaluate the efficacy of MCST to improve motor function in individuals with subacute stroke. Participants with subacute stroke living in the community with self-identified activity performance goals and hemiparesis will be recruited through a local stroke registry (n = 108). Those individuals who meet inclusion and exclusion criteria will be randomized to either a MCST group or to a usual care occupational therapy group. Both groups will receive ten, 45 minute sessions of treatment. Treatment outcomes will be assessed baseline, post-intervention, and at three-months post-intervention. Treatment efficacy outcomes will be analyzed with an intent-to-treat model with an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Potential covariates will include age, stroke severity, degree of cognitive impairment, and degree of motor impairment. Independent samples t-test and chi-square test will be used to ensure successful randomization and balance between groups. Group differences at baseline that are statistically significant will also be considered as covariates in the analysis. Post-hoc tests will be employed as appropriate. Significance levels, effect sizes, and confidence intervals will be reported. Completion of this study is likely to result in an efficacious, clinically feasible intervention to improve activity performance and reduce motor deficits in individuals with stroke that can be feasibly implemented into current systems of care. The proposed study and anticipated outcomes are consistent with the research priority of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), which is to focus on identifying, preventing, and treating key secondary conditions that are associated with physical impairments and disabilities, including stroke.
Stroke rehabilitation is primarily focused on reduction of stroke-related impairments, e.g., motor impairment, with the intention that impairment reduction will lead to improved ability to participate in everyday life activities, e.g., self-care, work. Despite substantial research to investigate the use of these impairment- reduction approaches in stroke, there is limited evidence to support that these approaches result in any meaningful impairment reduction that translates to improved ability to perform everyday life activities. This proposal seeks to evaluate if a novel metacognitive strategy training intervention, that targets engagement in activity rather than impairment reduction, can improve activity performance and reduce impairment in individuals with sub-acute stroke.
