Cognitive strategy on upper extremity function for stroke: A randomized controlled trials.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Occupational Therapy
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) is a cognitive-behavioral, task-specific training designed to enhance daily activity performance and overcome functional limitations.
• Stroke survivors often experience persistent challenges in performing daily and functional activities, necessitating effective rehabilitation strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of the CO-OP approach against task-specific upper extremity training (TUET) for individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke.
• To evaluate the impact of both interventions on daily and functional activity performance in the target population.

Main Methods:

• Forty-nine first-time stroke participants engaged in 30-minute sessions, 5 days/week for 4 weeks, receiving either CO-OP or TUET.
• Performance was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Box-and-Block Test (BBT), Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ), and Wolf Motor Function Test-Functional Score (WMFT-F).

Main Results:

• The CO-OP group demonstrated significant improvements in WMFT-F, COPM-P, COPM-S, BBT, and CIQ scores post-training.
• The TUET group showed significant improvement only in COPM-S scores.
• Higher increases in WMFT-F, COPM-P, COPM-S, and BBT scores were observed in the CO-OP group compared to the TUET group.

Conclusions:

• The CO-OP approach yields positive therapeutic effects on self-selected occupational performance in individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke.
• CO-OP demonstrates superior efficacy over TUET in improving various functional and performance measures following stroke.