Relative importance of rehabilitation therapy characteristics on functional outcomes for persons with stroke .
Randomised controlled trial of an occupational therapy intervention to increase outdoor mobility after stroke
Abstract Objective To evaluate an occupational therapy intervention to improve outdoor mobility after stroke . Design R and omised controlled trial . Setting General practice registers , social services departments , a primary care rehabilitation service , and a geriatric day hospital . Participants 168 community dwelling people with a clinical diagnosis of stroke in previous 36 months : 86 were allocated to the intervention group and 82 to the control group . Interventions Leaflets describing local transport services for disabled people ( control group ) and leaflets with assessment and up to seven intervention sessions by an occupational therapist ( intervention group ) . Main outcome measures Responses to postal question naires at four and 10 months : primary outcome measure was response to whether participant got out of the house as much as he or she would like , and secondary outcome measures were response to how many journeys outdoors had been made in the past month and scores on the Nottingham extended activities of daily living scale , Nottingham leisure question naire , and general health question naire . Results Participants in the treatment group were more likely to get out of the house as often as they wanted at both four months ( relative risk 1.72 , 95 % confidence interval 1.25 to 2.37 ) and 10 months ( 1.74 , 1.24 to 2.44 ) . The treatment group reported more journeys outdoors in the month before assessment at both four months ( median 37 in intervention group , 14 in control group : P < 0.01 ) and 10 months ( median 42 in intervention group , 14 in control group : P < 0.01 ) . At four months the mobility scores on the Nottingham extended activities of daily living scale were significantly higher in the intervention group , but there were no significant differences in the other secondary outcomes . No significant differences were observed in these measures at 10 months . Conclusion A targeted occupational therapy intervention at home increases outdoor mobility in people after stroke
Relative importance of rehabilitation therapy characteristics on functional outcomes for persons with stroke .