Kudos to Gabrielle Harris, PhD student and her faculty sponsor Janet Prvu Bettger for the submission of her American Heart Association application entitled: “Acute Recovery of Young Stroke Survivors: A Mixed Methods Study”. This proposal requests funding for a one-year period with a start date of January 1, 2020.

Stroke is a leading cause of disability in the United States, affecting an increasing number of young and middle-aged adults (defined here as 18 to 64 years). Motor, cognitive, language, and social functioning can all be disrupted by stroke. Consequently, younger stroke survivors may face many social issues related to their developmental stage including childcare responsibilities, employment, driving, and social participation. Such disruptions are likely to negatively impact health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after young stroke.Given the life stage of young stroke survivors, factors influencing HRQOL could differ for this population compared with older adults.

The purpose of this longitudinal, mixed methods study is to explore factors influencing HRQOL and perceptions of stroke recovery among 30 young stroke survivors over the 3-months after their acute hospitalization. Patient-reported outcomes will be collected at three time points: hospital discharge, one, and three months after discharge. Survivors will also complete an interview at 3 months.

The specific aims for this proposal are to:

Aim 1: Examine the association of individual (patient socio-demographics, clinical characteristics, parenting, and fatigue) and family (social support and family functioning) factors with HRQOL at hospital discharge, 3 months, and change from discharge to 3 months among 30 young stroke survivors.

Aim 2: Explore the personal experience of recovering from stroke and individual, family, and community level influences on this recovery, for young stroke survivors.

Aim 3: Use a mixed methods approach to integrate the quantitative data from Aim 1 and qualitative data from Aim 2 to build a conceptual model of stroke recovery for young survivors.