Family-Clinician Collaboration to Improve Neglect and Rehabilitation Outcome After Stroke

Spatial neglect (SN) frequently occurs in patients who have had a stroke. The problems caused by SN result in patients failing to attend to the space contralateral to the side of the stroke. This failure to attend to half of the patient's field may result in problems with perception, memory, action planning and navigation. These deficits hurt both the patients and their caregivers, and make it difficult for them to resume daily activities as they were before the stroke. More than half of the patients who had SN at admission still had it when discharged from an inpatient rehabilitation facility.

This study examines a new behavioral treatment, where the clinician and the caregiver work together to provide better treatment. The family members will engage in frequent meetings with clinicians, set goals, learn about SN and coping strategies and have the patient to perform easy, safe treatment exercises. The study will compare this Family-Clinician Collaboration with the inpatient treatment control. This study will compare the groups in measures of spatial neglect and independence in the patients and measures of caretaker burden and mental health in family members. Participants will also report on their overall opinions of the new treatment condition.