Positive emotion following a stroke

Glenn V. Ostir, Ivonne Berges, Margaret Ottenbacher, James E. Graham, Kenneth J. Ottenbacher

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: Interest in exploring the positive emotional health of adults has increased. The current study investigated the positive emotion of adults with stroke at discharge from in-patient medical rehabilitation and 3 months post-discharge. Design: A longitudinal study in which information was collected during in-patient medical rehabilitation stay and 3 months post-discharge. Subjects: The study included 856 persons with stroke aged 55 years or older. Results: Mean age for the sample was 72.5 years, 78.7% of subjects were non-Hispanic white and 51.9% were women. Mean length of hospital stay was 20.2 days. More than one-third of patients reported higher positive emotion over the 3-month follow-up, while 29.7% reported lower positive emotion. In addition to discharge positive emotion, 4 factors, including depression, level of education and motor and cognition functional status score, significantly predicted lower depression at 3-month follow-up. Conclusion: A large percentage of adults reported high positive emotion in the initial months following a stroke. This finding adds to work on stroke recovery and indicates the emotional resilience of adults when faced with a health challenge. Understanding the role of positive emotion in persons living with stroke may provide insight into long-term recovery.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)477-481
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Rehabilitation Medicine
Volume40
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2008

Keywords

  • Cerebrovascular accident
  • Ethnic groups
  • Positive emotion
  • Recovery of function

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Rehabilitation
  • General Health Professions
  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

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