Overview
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether adding an emotional wellness component to occupational therapy (OT) and/or speech therapy (ST) telerehabilitation improves overall emotional well-being and activity participation for people with stroke.
Description
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether adding an emotional wellness component to occupational therapy (OT) and/or speech therapy (ST) telerehabilitation improves overall emotional well-being and activity participation for people with stroke. Participants will complete 9 telerehabilitation therapy sessions over 8 weeks. These sessions will take place over a video visit using a personal device (phone, tablet, or computer). Each session will last about 1 hour. Sessions will focus on occupational therapy and/or speech therapy depending on the participant's stroke-related movement and/or language deficits. Each study participant will be randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups. Both groups will include OT or ST; however, one group will include an emotional wellness component using a modified version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Participants will also complete 2 assessment visits, one before the telerehabilitation begins and one after the telerehabilitation program ends. The assessment visits will also take place via a video visit using a personal device. Assessments include measures of emotional well-being, quality of life, activity engagement, arm/hand movement, communication/language skills, balance, and ability to perform daily activities.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
- Self-reported stroke-related deficits in emotional wellness such as anxiety, sleep disturbance, dread, fear, loss of hope, sadness.
- Have experienced ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke at least 30 days prior
- Stroke-related aphasia and/or upper extremity hemiparesis
- Aged 21 years or older
- English as primary language
- Have corrected vision to be able to read text on a screen
- Able to participate fully in the study's tele-rehabilitation (Aim 1) and/or virtual group programing (Aim 2) with personally owned device (i.e., phone, tablet, or laptop) and personal Wi-Fi connection or cellular service
- Cognitive, language, and motor capacity to participate fully in the study's assessment session as per the judgment of the licensed, experienced stroke tele-rehabilitation occupational or speech therapist
Exclusion Criteria:
- Unable to follow 1-2 step instructions given by the study team member during the informed consent procedures.
- Pain that interferes with ability to participate in the study's upper extremity movement tasks.
- Have impaired decision making capacity as determined by the U-ARE protocol for assessing capacity to provide informed consent.