Stroke Networking Group

The mission of the ACRM Stroke Networking Group is to be a leader in interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation - both in clinical practice and research - by promoting high standards of rehabilitation practice, education and research among professionals with common interests in stroke.

Steering Committee Chair: Phil Morse, PhD, FACRM
Committee Members: Steve Page, PhD; Tamara Bushnik, PhD, FACRM; Jocelyn Harris, PhD, OT(R); Elizabeth Skidmore, PhD, OTR/L; Pam Roberts, PhD; JR Rizzo, MD; Arlene Schmid, PhD, OTR/L
Board Liaison: Chris MacDonell

The work of the Stroke Networking Group is carried out by its various task forces. Task forces are currently active in the following areas:

• Cognition
• Living Life After Young Stroke
• Movement Interventions
• Vision

The work of the task forces is done throughout the year with regular conference calls and two face-to-face meetings a year. These include the Mid-Year Meeting in the spring and the Annual Meeting in the fall.

Cognition Task Force The Cognition Task Force is comprised of rehabilitation practitioners and researchers invested in promoting activity-based strategies for assessing and treating cognitive impairment after stroke. Anywhere from 1 in 2 to 1 in 3 individuals demonstrate cognitive impairment within the first 3 months after stroke, and these impairments are associated with significant long-term disability. The Cognition Task Force activities are focused on developing resources to 1) address the impact of cognitive impairment on rehabilitation and recovery, 2) promote effective and contextually relevant rehabilitation strategies to address cognitive impairment after stroke.

Presently, task force members are conducting a systematic review of evidence addressing cognitive-motor interference, gleaning evidence that can be used to address divided attention during balance, mobility and fall prevention training after stroke. We welcome interested individuals to join the task force to work on our current project or to join in the development of additional ones. To become involved contact: Elizabeth Skidmore, PhD, OTR/L.

Living Life After Young Stroke Task Force There is a dramatic shifting in the demographic of people who experience stroke. While it is true that the majority is still near or in retirement at the time of the stroke, there is a growing percentage of individuals who experience stroke while they are in their work- and family-building stage of life. Whether this is due to the growing obesity problem in the United States or to other factors that have not been well identified, the Living Life After Young Stroke Task Force believes that this younger group of survivors of stroke face unique challenges and needs for rehabilitation and post-acute rehabilitation, education, and support.

The task force has decided to focus upon the unique issues for caregivers and spouses of individuals who have experienced stroke at a young age. Our goals include completing a large scale needs assessment to determine what topics unique for young individuals with stroke, their families and caregivers (e.g., parenting, sexuality, financial planning) should be explicitly addressed during recovery after stroke and at what time these topics should be presented, discussed, and the education reinforced. To become involved contact: Tamara Bushnik, PhD, FACRM.

Movement Interventions Task Force Movement-related deficits are the most common impairments exhibited after stroke and, in many cases, the most disabling. Yet, there remain few therapies that effectively target stroke motor impairments. Moreover, the therapeutic ingredients that most impact motor changes after stroke, and the ways in which movement-related variables change after stroke (e.g., speed, precision, strength, pacing), each remain poorly understood.

The Movement Interventions Task Force is a group of clinicians and researchers interested in better understanding these pressing issues. We are a product-focused group focusing on developing new knowledge about movement after stroke through development of presentations, papers, and other educational materials for patients, care partners, and professionals. Through the creation of these products, our goals are to improve stroke clinical practice, increase (and, in some cases, establish) evidence related to motor impairment reduction after stroke, and to influence public policy. To become involved contact: Arlene Schmid, PhD, OTR/L or Jocelyn Harris, PhD, OT(R).

Vision Task Force

The visual system is one of our most important senses. It enables us to gather and process information and determines how we will interact with our dynamic environment. Neurological diseases or insults can leave patients with some degree of visual, perceptual, and/or cognitive dysfunction. A neglected component in therapies to improve function is a clear understanding of eye-hand coordination even though harmonization between eye and hand movement is required for all functional activities.

The mission of this task force is to understand how vision, visual motor, and visual perceptual training can be generalized to limb training to improve coordination and functional performance and develop the field of functional vision rehabilitation. Further, our task force will investigate the role of eye movements in eye-hand coordination and in the recovery of motor control in patients with stroke. We hope to stimulate research that will build a logical foundation to integrate the principles of eye-hand coordination into clinical practice to improve functional ability.

The Vision Task Force is a group comprised of clinicians and researchers who are dedicated to elucidating these serious concerns. Aside from the development of functional vision rehabilitation for ocular ailments, our secondary goals involve promulgating information regarding the importance of visual deficits and the clinical situations where they may be prevalent, in addition to advocating for public policy to take a stronger stance on assisting those with vision impediments and allocating healthcare resources appropriately. To become involved contact: Pamela Roberts, PhD, OTR/L, SCFES, CPHQ, FAOTA or JR Rizzo, MD.

Additional goals of the Stroke Networking Group include:

• Development of products within the Task Forces
• A plan to grow the Stroke Networking Group in numbers, depth and breadth, including links to other professional groups interested in stroke rehabilitation
• To ultimately become the ACRM Stroke Special Interest Group.

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For additional information about membership and activities of the Stroke Networking Group, contact: Phil Morse, PhD, FACRM