NURSING INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE UNILATERAL NEGLECT IN RIGHT HEMISPHERE STROKE PATIENTS.
Contributors: University of Michigan.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 211
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Biology, Neuroscience.
Description: Unilateral neglect is described as the failure of an individual, despite normal primary sensation, to report, respond, or orient to novel or meaningful stimuli presented to the side opposite the brain lesion (Heilman & Valenstein, 1979). Heilman and associates (1985) proposed that neglect is an attention-arousal deficit due to decreased activation of the right hemisphere.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether selected interventions that increase the activation of the damaged right hemisphere will reduce the severity of unilateral neglect on the left. The study sample consisted of an experimental and a control group composed of right hemisphere stroke patients with evidence of unilateral neglect. Subjects were recruited from a rehabilitation center in the southern region of the U.S. Three tests of unilateral neglect were used: line bisection, visual target cancellation, and letter reading. Anosognosia was also assessed. Experimental group subjects received the following interventions daily for 15 minutes over a 3-week period: dynamic visual stimuli were presented on the left side of the subject, music was delivered to the subject's left ear through headphones, and the subject received tactile stimuli by the investigator brushing the upper left extremity with a rough cloth. The experimental subjects were tested for unilateral neglect every 3 days before and after each intervention. Control subjects did not receive any interventions; they were tested and then retested 15 minutes later every 3 days.

Repeated measures ANOVA were used to test the two study hypotheses; both were rejected. There were no significant effects of the interventions on the severity of unilateral neglect immediately after the interventions were terminated, nor did they have any carryover effect, even after several weeks of intervention. During the implementation of the interventions, however, the severity of left-sided neglect was significantly reduced. This finding has implications for rehabilitation of right hemisphere stroke patients.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-07, Section: B, page: 3522.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 1991.

School code: 0127.