Positive emotion following a stroke.
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.


METHODS
A longitudinal study in which information was collected during in-patient medical rehabilitation stay and 3 months post-discharge.


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Sealy Center on Aging, Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
Glenn V
GV
Ostir
Ivonne
I
Berges
Margaret
M
Ottenbacher
James E
JE
Graham
Kenneth J
KJ
Ottenbacher
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D020127:Recovery of Function; D020521:Stroke / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation