Brief Psychosocial Intervention to Address Poststroke Depression May Also Benefit Fatigue and Sleep-Wake Disturbance

This study aimed to determine if brief psychosocial/behavioral therapy directed to reduce poststroke depression would decrease fatigue and improve sleep-wake disturbance.

A preplanned secondary data analysis from a completed clinical trial was conducted.

One hundred participants received usual care, in-person intervention, or telephone intervention. Depression, fatigue, and sleep-wake disturbance were measured at entry, 8 weeks, 21 weeks, and 12 months following the intervention.

Fatigue (within: p = .042, between: p = .394), sleep disturbance (within: p = .024, between: p = .102), and wake disturbance (within: p = .004, between: p = .508) decreased over the 12 months in the intervention groups, but not in the control group. This difference was clinically meaningful for wake disturbance and approached the clinically important difference for fatigue.

Reduction in wake disturbance was consistent with clinically meaningful difference standards for patient-reported outcomes, warranting further research in larger samples.