title: Efficacy of home-based visuomotor feedback training in stroke patients with chronic hemispatial neglect.
abstract: Hemispatial neglect is a severe cognitive condition frequently observed after a stroke, associated with unawareness of one side of space, disability and poor long-term outcome. Visuomotor feedback training (VFT) is a neglect rehabilitation technique that involves a simple, inexpensive and feasible training of grasping-to-lift rods at the centre. We compared the immediate and long-term effects of VFT vs. a control training when delivered in a home-based setting. Twenty participants were randomly allocated to an intervention (who received VFT) or a control group (n = 10 each). Training was delivered for two sessions by an experimenter and then patients self-administered it for 10 sessions over two weeks. Outcome measures included the Behavioural Inattention Test (BIT), line bisection, Balloons Test, Landmark task, room description task, subjective straight-ahead pointing task and the Stroke Impact Scale. The measures were obtained before, immediately after the training sessions and after four-months post-training. Significantly greater short and long-term improvements were obtained after VFT when compared to control training in line bisection, BIT and spatial bias in cancellation. VFT also produced improvements on activities of daily living. We conclude that VFT is a feasible, effective, home-based rehabilitation method for neglect patients that warrants further investigation with well-designed randomised controlled trials on a large sample of patients.
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of East Anglia , Norwich , UK.
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossit
authors.affiliation: b School of Psychology , University of Glasgow , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Christopher S Y
authors.initials: CSY
authors.lastname: Benwell
authors.affiliation: b School of Psychology , University of Glasgow , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Larissa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Szymanek
authors.affiliation: b School of Psychology , University of Glasgow , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Learmonth
authors.affiliation: c School of Health and Life Sciences , Glasgow Caledonian University , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McKernan-Ward
authors.affiliation: b School of Psychology , University of Glasgow , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.affiliation: d Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology , University of Glasgow , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.affiliation: e Department of Medicine for the Elderly , Southern General Hospital , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.affiliation: e Department of Medicine for the Elderly , Southern General Hospital , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.affiliation: e Department of Medicine for the Elderly , Southern General Hospital , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Birschel
authors.affiliation: e Department of Medicine for the Elderly , Southern General Hospital , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: f Stroke Discharge and Rehabilitation Team , Southern General Hospital , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Livingstone
authors.affiliation: f Stroke Discharge and Rehabilitation Team , Southern General Hospital , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Hazel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: g Mansion House Unit , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castle
authors.affiliation: b School of Psychology , University of Glasgow , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Hemispatial neglect; activities of daily living; attention; hemiparesis; stroke rehabilitation