Study protocol: home-based telehealth stroke care: a randomized trial for veterans.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Stroke is one of the most disabling and costly impairments of adulthood in the United States. Stroke patients clearly benefit from intensive inpatient care, but due to the high cost, there is considerable interest in implementing interventions to reduce hospital lengths of stay. Early discharge rehabilitation programs require coordinated, well-organized home-based rehabilitation, yet lack of sufficient information about the home setting impedes successful rehabilitation. This trial examines a multifaceted telerehabilitation (TR) intervention that uses telehealth technology to simultaneously evaluate the home environment, assess the patient's mobility skills, initiate rehabilitative treatment, prescribe exercises tailored for stroke patients and provide periodic goal oriented reassessment, feedback and encouragement. METHODS: We describe an ongoing Phase II, 2-arm, 3-site randomized controlled trial (RCT) that determines primarily the effect of TR on physical function and secondarily the effect on disability, falls-related self-efficacy, and patient satisfaction. Fifty participants with a diagnosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: (a) TR; or (b) Usual Care. The TR intervention uses a combination of three videotaped visits and five telephone calls, an in-home messaging device, and additional telephonic contact as needed over a 3-month study period, to provide a progressive rehabilitative intervention with a treatment goal of safe functional mobility of the individual within an accessible home environment. Dependent variables will be measured at baseline, 3-, and 6-months and analyzed with a linear mixed-effects model across all time points. DISCUSSION: For patients recovering from stroke, the use of TR to provide home assessments and follow-up training in prescribed equipment has the potential to effectively supplement existing home health services, assist transition to home and increase efficiency. This may be particularly relevant when patients live in remote locations, as is the case for many veterans. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT00384748.

Department

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1186/1745-6215-11-74

Publication Info

Chumbler, NR, DK Rose, P Griffiths, P Quigley, N McGee Hernandez, KA Carlson, P Vandenberg, MC Morey, et al. (2010). Study protocol: home-based telehealth stroke care: a randomized trial for veterans. Trials, 11. p. 74. 10.1186/1745-6215-11-74 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4379.

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Scholars@Duke

Morey

Miriam C. Morey

Professor Emeritus of Medicine

The general focus of Dr. Morey's work is exercise and aging. All of her research examines how physical activity, exercise training, or physical fitness influence the physical functioning and/or pyschosocial quality of life of older adults. She directs a supervised hospital-based program for older adults, which is used to examine longitudinally the effects of exercise training on the musculoskeletal, articular, and cardiorespiratory systems. Furthermore, she has a number of studies that examine how system-wide impairments serve as preclinical indicators of disability and overall decline in the quality of life of older adults. Ongoing studies examine the role of exercise training in attenuation or reversal of functional decline and examination of the effectivenes of different methods of physical activity counseling for home-based exercise.
Dr. Morey's research evolves directly from three sources: (1) primary analyses of clinical trials regarding the impact of exercise on a specific outcome, (2) longitudinal analyses of participants in ongoing clinical exercise programs, and (3) secondary analyses of clinical trials which involve exercise or physical activity.
Although physical activity and exercise are the interventions of interest in all of these studies, the outcomes of interest vary considerably. Within the broad domain of aging, Dr. Morey has examined the impact of exercise on physical performance, well-being, sleep quality, disability, and functional limitations. More recently, Dr. Morey has several studies focusing on the effect of tailored telephone physical activity counseling to improve function in elders. Specific studies are targeted to newly diagnosed cancer survivors, long-term cancer survivors, and frail elders in geriatric and primary care settings.
Dr. Morey's expertise is in the area of exercise physiology and aging. She has specific knowledge in age-related changes in cardiorespiratory functioning, the effects of habitual exercise (longitudinal) on performance, and exercise programming for older adults.


Key Words: Exercise, maximal oxygen uptake, cardiorespiratory fitness, aging, disability,
functional limitations, longitudinal

Hoenig

Helen Marie Hoenig

Professor of Medicine
  1. General Focus and Goals of Research: Dr. Hoenig's research focuses on rehabilitation, and more specifically on assistive technology and teletechnology. Patient populations of interest include geriatric patients with diverse medical problems including stroke, spinal and/or musculoskeletal disorders.

    2. Specific Approaches or Techniques: Randomized controlled trials, epidemiological studies including large data base analyses and survey research. Clinical trials include studies of the effects of motorized scooters in persons with difficulty walking, methods for providing wheelchairs, and telerehabilitation for exercise & functional mobility training in the home. Epidemiological studies and survey research have examined use of assistive technology and other coping strategies to disability.

    4. Special areas of expertise/national recognition: Rehabilitation health services research, geriatric rehabilitation, assistive technology outcomes, telerehabilitation.

    KEY WORDS/PHRASES: Rehabilitation, Process and Outcomes Research, Assistive Technology, Telehealth, Activities of Daily Living, Geriatrics, Disability.

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