Purpose The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach compared to usual outpatient rehabilitation on activity and participation in people less than 3 months post stroke. Methods An exploratory, single blind, randomized controlled trial with a usual care control arm was conducted. Participants referred to 2 stroke rehabilitation outpatient programs were randomized to receive either Usual Care or CO-OP. The primary outcome was actual performance of trained and untrained self-selected activities, measured using the Performance Quality Rating Scale (PQRS). Additional outcomes included the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), the Stroke Impact Scale Participation Domain, the Community Participation Index, and the Self Efficacy Gauge. Results Thirty-five (35) eligible participants were randomized; 26 completed the intervention. Post-intervention, PQRS change scores demonstrated CO-OP had a medium effect over Usual Care on trained self-selected activities (d=0.5) and a large effect on untrained (d=1.2). At a 3 month follow-up, PQRS change scores indicated a large effect of CO-OP on both trained (d=1.6) and untrained activities (d=1.1). CO-OP had a small effect on COPM and a medium effect on the Community Participation Index perceived control and the Self-Efficacy Gauge. Conclusion CO-OP was associated with a large treatment effect on follow up performances of self-selected activities, and demonstrated transfer to untrained activities. A larger trial is warranted.

This paper updates guidelines of effective treatments for children with acquired brain injury (ABI) by including new evidence found in recent years and by building upon evidence presented in 2007. A systematic search was conducted for articles published from 2006-2017. Full manuscripts describing treatments of children (post-birth to 18) with acquired brain injury were included if study was published in peer-reviewed journals and written in English. Two independent reviewers and a third, if conflicts existed, evaluated the methodological quality of studies with an Individual Study Review Form and a Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist. Strength of study characteristics was used in development of practice guidelines. Fifty-six peer-reviewed articles, including 28 Class I studies, were included in the final analysis. Established guidelines for writing practice recommendations were used and 22 practice recommendations were written with details of potential treatment limitations. There was strong evidence for family/caregiver-focused interventions, as well as direct interventions to improve attention, memory, executive functioning, and emotional/behavioral functioning. A majority of the practice standards and guidelines provided evidence for the use of technology in delivery of interventions, representing an important trend in the field.

Background Mild stroke comprises 53% of stroke hospital admissions; however, the majority of those with mild stroke patients receive little support to address chronic symptoms following stroke. Objectives To evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effect of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) for use with individuals immediately post mild-stroke. Methods Single-blind, exploratory, randomized controlled trial with participants who sustained a mild stroke (NIHSS < 6). Participants were randomized to either receive the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) intervention or to an inactive control group. Primary outcomes were self-reported health and self-efficacy and were obtained at baseline, post-intervention (treatment group only), and at six months post-baseline. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests were used to compare change score differences for all participants and effect size was computed using effect size r for non-parametric data. Results There were no differences between groups in demographics or baseline data with the exception of how participants felt they are able to manage their health in general (p = 0.05). At follow-up, effect sizes ranged from 0 to 0.35 (no effect to medium effect); however, while the treatment group reported improvements in several areas of health at follow-up, the results are not compelling when compared to the control group over the same time period. Conclusions The results did not identify a positive effect that would support the use of the CDSMP with individuals post-mild stroke; however, the generalizability of these results are limited secondary to several limitations in this exploratory study.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and discriminant validity of the Complex Task Performance Assessment (CTPA): An ecologically-valid performance-based assessment of executive function. Community control participants (n = 20) and individuals with mild stroke (n = 14) participated in this study. All participants completed the CTPA and a battery of cognitive assessments at initial testing. The control participants completed the CTPA at two different times one week apart. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for inter-rater reliability for the total score on the CTPA was 0.991. The ICCs for all of the sub scores of the CTPA were also high (0.889-0.977). The CTPA total score was significantly correlated to Condition 4 of the DKEFS Color-Word Interference Test (ρ = −0.425), and the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (ρ = −0.493). Finally, there were significant differences between control subjects and individuals with mild stroke on the total score of the CTPA (p = 0.007) and all sub scores except interpretation failures and total items incorrect. These results are also consistent with other current executive function performance-based assessments and indicate that the CTPA is a reliable and valid performance-based measure of executive function.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) compared with usual occupational therapy on upper-extremity movement, cognitive flexibility, and stroke impact in people less than 3 mo after stroke. An exploratory, single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted with people referred to outpatient occupational therapy services at two rehabilitation centers. Arm movement was measured with the Action Research Arm Test, cognitive flexibility with the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Trail Making subtest, and stroke impact with subscales of the Stroke Impact Scale. A total of 35 participants were randomized, and 26 completed the intervention. CO-OP demonstrated measurable effects over usual care on all measures. These data provide early support for the use of CO-OP to improve performance and remediate cognitive and arm movement impairments after stroke over usual care; however, future study is warranted to confirm the effects observed in this trial.