Rehabilitation of attention deficits after stroke - Efficacy of a neuropsychological training program for attention deficits

Sixteen stroke patients participated in an outcome study designed to determine the efficacy of a neuropsychological training program aimed at improving attentional deficits. This program is based on a rehabilitation theory, which describes attention deficits related to brain lesion, and a behavioral medicinal approach to cognitive rehabilitation. The study was carried out in a training and control group design, with a pre-/posttest assessment in the early rehabilitation phase of stroke patients. The training group (n = 16) performed better than the control group (n = 13) after training, in a wide range of tests to assess attention, speed of information processing, psychomotor speed, and neglect syndrome. A further behavioral test aimed at determining the impact of training on inattentiveness in everyday life. The severity of depression was shown to correlate with the degree of functional disability, but no effects of the training could be ascertained regarding the daily activities and the emotional status of the patients in the study. Furthermore, the degree of depression of the stroke patients was compared with the degree of depression amongst a group of healthy subjects and patients after cardiac infarction.