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.

Importance: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has identified the need to assess functional cognition as part of the postacute care planning process. Objective: We examined the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of the Menu Task (MT) as a screening measure of functional cognition to assess the need for occupational therapy services. Design: Cross-sectional study testing a convenience sample of community-dwelling older adults (n = 130) and adults hospitalized for elective orthopedic surgery (n = 60). The MT and four neuropsychological screening tests—the Brief Interview of Mental Status, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Trail Making Tests A and B, and an instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scale—were administered. Setting: Community-dwelling participants were tested at the University of Wisconsin occupational therapy program and in community settings. Hospitalized participants were tested at the University of Missouri Orthopedic Institute. Participants: We recruited healthy community-dwelling adults in Madison, WI (community sample; n = 130) and patients hospitalized for elective orthopedic surgery in Columbia, MO (hospital sample; n = 60). Inclusion criteria were age 55 yr or older, living in the community, and willingness to be tested in English; for the hospital sample, participants had to be referred for elective orthopedic surgery requiring a hospital stay and be independent in activities of daily living before being admitted for surgery. Results: We found significant differences between groups classified as impaired or not impaired on the basis of MT scores. Participants classified as impaired on the MT performed significantly less well than those classified as not impaired on the neurocognitive and IADL measures. Conclusion: The reliability and validity of the MT were supported. What This Article Adds: The American Occupational Therapy Association and the occupational therapy experts advising CMS have stressed the importance of a brief performance-based screening tool to identify people who need more comprehensive occupational therapy evaluation. The implementation of a functional cognition screening tool as part of the required CMS assessment protocol should greatly increase the number of patients referred for occupational therapy evaluation and treatment. The MT has the capacity to address the gap in the proposed CMS assessment of Medicare recipients across postacute care settings.

Cognitive impairment is a common consequence of mild stroke. Current performance-based assessments for mild stroke can detect mild impairments in executive function but lack alternate forms to be used as outcome measures. This study aimed to develop an alternate form of the Complex Task Performance Assessment (CTPA-Alt), a performance-based assessment of executive function, and to establish the alternate form reliability of the CTPA-Alt. A repeated-measures study was conducted with 26 community participants. Participants were screened for eligibility and administered both forms of the CTPA; administration order was alternated. Overall performance was significantly correlated (r s 5 .44, p 5 .03), but pattern of scoring differed by CTPA form and order of administration. Our results indicate that the CTPA forms were similar but that the specific tasks in each form were different. The CTPA may be used as an ecologically valid outcome assessment with further considerations.

No abstract