Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 51-8 | Page 21
J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 557–565
ORIGINAL REPORT
EFFECT OF A DIALOGUE-BASED INTERVENTION ON PSYCHOSOCIAL WELL-
BEING 6 MONTHS AFTER STROKE IN NORWAY: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED
TRIAL
Ellen G. HJELLE, OT, MHSc 1 , Line K. BRAGSTAD, OT, PhD 1,2 , Marit KIRKEVOLD, RN, EdD 1 , Manuela ZUCKNICK, STAT,
PhD 3 , Berit A. BRONKEN, RN, PhD 4 , Randi MARTINSEN, RN, PhD 4 , Kari J. KVIGNE, RN, PhD 4 , Gabriele KITZMÜLLER,
RN, PhD 5 , Margrete MANGSET, RN, PhD 6 , Bente THOMMESSEN, MD, PhD 7 and Unni SVEEN, OT, PhD 8
From the 1 Department of Nursing Science and Research Center for Habilitation and Rehabilitation Services and Models (CHARM),
Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, 2 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, 3 Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and
Epidemiology, Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, 4 Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Faculty
of Social and Health Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5 Department of Health and Care Sciences, Faculty of Health
Sciences, UIT, The Arctic University of Norway, 6 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, 7 Department of Neurology,
Akershus University Hospital and 8 Department of Geriatric Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Oslo University Hospital,
Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway
Objective: To evaluate the effect of a dialogue-based
intervention on psychosocial well-being 6 months
after stroke.
Design: Multicentre, prospective, randomized con-
trolled trial.
Subjects: Adults (aged ≥ 18 years) who had their
first or recurrent stroke within the last month, were
medically stable, had sufficient cognitive functioning
to participate and understood and spoke Norwegian.
Methods: A total of 322 participants were randomly as-
signed to the intervention (n = 166) or control (n = 156)
group. Participants in the intervention group received
up to 8 individual sessions aimed at supporting the co-
ping and life skills of stroke survivors in addition to
usual care. The primary outcome was the proportion
of participants with normal mood measured by the
General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). The se-
condary outcomes included health-related quality of
life (Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale; SAQOL-
39g), depression (Yale-Brown single-item questionn-
aire; Yale) and sense of coherence (SOC-13).
Results: After controlling for the baseline values, no
significant benefit was found in the intervention gro-
up over the control group (odds ratio (OR): 0.898:
95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.54-1.50,
p = 0.680) 6 months post-stroke.
Conclusion: Psychosocial well-being improved during
the first 6 months after stroke in both arms of the
trial, but no statistically significant benefit of the di-
alogue-based intervention was found compared with
usual care.
Key words: psychosocial rehabilitation; stroke; intervention
study; mood; psychosocial factor.
Accepted Jul 8, 2019; Epub ahead of print Aug 14, 2019
J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 557–565
Correspondence address: Ellen Gabrielsen Hjelle, Department of Nur-
sing Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Pb 1130 Blindern,
NO-0318 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: [email protected]
S
troke is a major cause of death and disability glo-
bally and imposes social and economic burdens
LAY ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a
dialogue-based intervention on psychosocial well-be-
ing 6 months after stroke. A total of 322 participants
were assigned to an intervention (n = 166) or control
(n = 156) group. Participants in the intervention group
received up to 8 individual sessions aimed at supporting
the coping and life skills of stroke survivors in addition
to usual care. Psychosocial well-being improved during
the first 6 months after the stroke in both arms of the
trial. However, no benefit of the dialogue-based inter-
vention was found compared with usual care.
on individuals, families and communities (1). Every
year, approximately 12,000 people suffer from stroke
in Norway (2). Psychosocial challenges and emotional
symptoms are frequent sequelae after stroke. Approx-
imately one-third of patients report depressive symp-
toms (3) or anxiety (4) the first year post-stroke. Other
common challenges include general psychological
distress and social isolation (5). Psychosocial problems
affect long-term functioning and health-related quality
of life as well as motivation to participate in rehabilita-
tion, but follow-up targeting psychosocial adjustment
may improve psychosocial well-being, independent
of functional impairment after stroke (6). To promote
well-being, prevent additional negative consequences
after stroke, and maximize the effect of rehabilitation,
psychosocial well-being should be a focus during
post-stroke care.
Systematic reviews have explored psychosocial
interventions after stroke (3, 7–10). Although moti-
vational interviewing is the only intervention with a
documented effect (7), providing information (10),
counselling (9) and liaisons with services (8) may
contribute to psychosocial well-being. A study on mo-
tivational interviewing found a statistically significant
benefit over usual stroke care. The results suggested
that motivational interviewing led to improvements
in the patients’ mood 3 months after stroke, and the
benefit was confirmed at 12 months (11).
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license. www.medicaljournals.se/jrm
Journal Compilation © 2019 Foundation of Rehabilitation Information. ISSN 1650-1977
doi: 10.2340/16501977-2585