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StrokeNCT04099511

Metacognitive-Strategy Training in Sub-Acute Stroke

A study testing Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance in people with Stroke, run by University of Missouri-Columbia at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The long-term goal of this research is to improve activity performance and reduce motor impairment in individuals with stroke. Contemporary stroke rehabilitation focuses on remediation of post-stroke impairments with a false assumption that reduction in impairments will automatically lead to improvements in activity… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 50 to 85 years
Conditions the study is for
Stroke
What is being tested?
Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
72 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
21 Nov 2019to 12 Sep 2024
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 50 to 85 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • less than 9 months post-stroke
  • adults age 40-85
  • completed inpatient rehabilitation services (if recommended)
  • living in the community with or without caregiver support (i.e., not living in a skilled nursing facility)
  • ability to read, write, and speak English
  • self-identified activity performance goals per the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM)
  • upper extremity hemiparesis as indicated by a score of 1-3 on the NIHSS motor arm score, documented in acute therapy evaluation, and/or per self- report of the participant.
  • absence of moderate or severe aphasia as indicated by a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) aphasia score of 1 or less or documented in acute therapy evaluation

Who cannot join

  • inability to provide informed consent
  • severe depressive symptoms as indicated by a score >21 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
  • dementia symptoms as indicated by a score of <23 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)
  • additional neurological diagnoses identified by medical chart review (e.g., brain malignancy)
  • no voluntary movement in affected upper extremity as indicated by a score of 4 on the NIHSS motor arm score or documented in acute therapy evaluation
  • anosognosia as indicated by an inability to identify activity performance problems on the COPM
  • any other condition not otherwise specified that the PI determines would render participation in this study as unsafe
  • any medical condition that the medial monitor determines would render participation in this study as unsafe

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • University of Missouri: Department of Occupational Therapy

    Columbia, Missouri, 65211

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Efficacy of Metacognitive-Strategy Training to Improve Activity Performance and Reduce Motor Impairment in Sub-Acute Stroke

The long-term goal of this research is to improve activity performance and reduce motor impairment in individuals with stroke. Contemporary stroke rehabilitation focuses on remediation of post-stroke impairments with a false assumption that reduction in impairments will automatically lead to improvements in activity performance. Specifically, stroke rehabilitation is focused primarily on the use of task-specific training (TST), which recent research has found to yield negligible improvement in upper extremity motor function often consistent with or less than control conditions. These protocols are time intensive and often do not lead to transfer of training effects to improvement in activity performance. This is a common issue that has been evidenced in longitudinal studies of individuals with stroke; over half of stroke survivors continue to be dependent on others for the most basic of life activities after rehabilitation. Decreases in activity performance further contribute to lower life satisfaction, quality of life, and participation in daily life. The goal of this proposed project is to evaluate the efficacy of a clinically-feasible metacognitive strategy training (MCST) intervention, the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach, to improve activity performance and reduce stroke impairment for individuals with sub-acute stroke.

Recent evidence highlights two primary issues in stroke rehabilitation. 1) Interventions are needed that directly target activity performance. Gains in upper extremity function, even using the most contemporary approaches, are not translating to meaningful gains in activity performance. 2) Interventions need to be clinically feasible for future implementation. In recent stroke rehabilitation clinical trials, participants received an average of over 30 hours of therapy in only one treatment modality. Individuals in stroke rehabilitation receive a median of only 6 outpatient visits across all health care specialties combined (OT, PT, SLP, physiatrist).

Read more

Metacognitive strategy training (MCST), specifically the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach, is a potential solution to address both of these gaps. CO-OP is a performance-based, problem-solving approach that enables participants to improve task performance through cognitive strategy use. In the exploratory clinical trial for individuals with sub-acute stroke (n=26), the study compared ten, 45-minute sessions of MCST (CO-OP) with dose-matched outpatient usual care outpatient occupational therapy (OT). The MCST (CO-OP) group demonstrated a large effect over usual care on objective measures of trained functional activities (d=1.6) and untrained functional activities (d = 1.1). The MCST group also demonstrated a moderate effect over usual care outpatient OT on improving motor function (r = 0.3).

The goal of this proposed project is to determine the efficacy of MCST to improve activity performance and to reduce motor impairments in individuals with subacute stroke. A single-blind, parallel, randomized clinical trial will be conducted with individuals with sub-acute stroke. Participants will be randomized to a 10-session MCST (CO-OP) treatment group or to a dose matched usual care outpatient OT control group. Data will be collected pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at 3-months post-intervention assessment. Our central research hypothesis is that MCST will produce a significant improvement on objective and subjective measures of activity performance (trained and untrained goals) and reduce motor impairment in comparison to a usual care OT group.

Objective 1: Evaluate the efficacy of MCST to improve subjective and objective activity performance in individuals with subacute stroke.

Primary Endpoint: MCST will have a greater positive effect compared to usual care OT on subjective and objective activity performance of trained goals.

Primary Endpoint: MCST will have a greater positive effect compared to usual care OT on subjective and objective activity performance of untrained activity goals to demonstrate transfer of the treatment effect.

Secondary Endpoint: MCST will have a greater positive effect compared to usual care OT on subjective stroke recovery (participation and role functioning) Objective 2: Evaluate the efficacy of MCST to improve motor function in individuals with subacute stroke.

Primary Endpoint: MCST group will have a greater positive effect compared to usual care OT on reducing motor impairment.

Secondary Endpoint: MCST will have a greater positive effect compared to usual care OT on subjective stroke recovery (physical functioning)

Conditions
Stroke
Being tested
Usual Care Occupational Therapy-Outpatient, Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance
Keywords
Stroke, Occupational therapy, Rehabilitation, Participation
Medical subject headings
Stroke

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Usual Care Occupational Therapy-OutpatientBehavioural

    The control group in the proposed study will receive usual care occupational therapy services. The dosage between the experimental group and usual care will be identical with each group receiving ten 45- minute treatment sessions. The treating therapists will be unfamiliar with the experimental group intervention to avoid contamination. Each therapist will be instructed to provide care in the same manner as they typically provide in day-to-day practice for patients with similar characteristics as those in the study. The therapists will be encouraged to provide home action plans to participants. Usual care services will be monitored through a log of number of sessions, time spent in each session, and what activities were the focus of each session. The therapists will be instructed that they can address any participant goals they wish other than transfer goals identified by the participant.

  • Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational PerformanceBehavioural

    The Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach was developed within the field of occupational therapy and is a performance-based, problem-solving approach to address activity performance limitations. Subjects will be taught to use the global problem-solving strategy of Goal-Plan-Do-Check: identifying a specific goal (Goal), outlining a practical plan for reaching that goal (Plan), accurately performing the plan (Do), and analyzing whether the plan led to achievement of the goal and altering the plan accordingly (Check). The Goal-Plan-Do-Check process will be iteratively applied to each of the activity goals. Therapists will use guided discovery to allow the subject to self-identify their own potential solutions within an activity (develop the plan). The therapists will be instructed that they can address any participant goals they wish other than transfer goals identified by the participant.

Study groups in NCT04099511
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Usual Care Occupational Therapy-OutpatientActive comparatorNot described
Receives: Behavioral: Usual Care Occupational Therapy-Outpatient
Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational PerformanceExperimentalNot described
Receives: Behavioral: Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM)

    The COPM is a semi-structured interview guide for establishing a subject's activity performance levels within self-care, leisure, and productivity. The subject will set a minimum of 5 activity goals, providing a self-rating of 1-10 for level of performance. A higher score indicates a better outcome. An average self-rating score across all 5 activity goals for performance will be used in analysis

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up average performance score (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)

  2. Performance Quality Rating Scale (PQRS)

    The PQRS is an observational, objective method of scoring subject activity performance of goals set via the COPM. A blind, trained rater external to the research study team will view video recordings of each subject performing goals. Each goal is rated on a scale of 1 (no activity criteria were met) to 10 (all activity criteria were met). The final score used in the analysis will be an average of all 5 goals.

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)

  3. The Life Space Questionnaire

    The Life Space Questionnaire is a self-reported measure of community mobility and social participation. It is comprised of 9 yes/no questions related to places visited in the previous three days. Total number of "yes" responses (range 0-9) will be used in the analysis. A higher score indicates better performance.

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)

  4. Fugl-Meyer-Upper Extremity

    The Fugl-Meyer is a well-established measure of upper extremity motor performance in individuals with post-stroke hemiparesis. Each item is scored either a 0 (cannot perform), 1 (performs partially), or 2 (performs fully) with a maximum score of 66. Total range for each item is 0-66. A higher score indicates better performance. In the present study, the upper extremity item will be used in analysis. Only the change score is reported/analyzed. A higher change score represents more improvement on the measure.

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

    The PHQ-9 is a self-report measure of depressive symptoms. The subject identifies how often over the previous 2 weeks they have experienced 9 depressive symptoms. The total score reflects the severity of depressive symptoms. A score of 21 or greater indicates severe depressive symptoms and the total range for the measure is 0-27. A higher score indicating more depressive symptoms. The change in total score will be used in analysis. A negative change score means and improvement in depressive symptoms

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)

  2. NIH Toolbox (NIH-TB)-Cognition Battery

    The NIH-TB will be used to evaluate subjects' crystallized intelligence. In contrast to the primary outcome of fluid intelligence, crystalized intelligence is more dependent upon previous learning experience. A crystalized intelligence composite T-score will be used in analysis. A T score of 50 indicates the population mean with a standard deviation of 10. A higher T score indicates better performance (less impairment). Only the change in T score reported. A higher positive T score indicates more improvement in crystallized intelligence.

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)

  3. Stroke Impact Scale (SIS)

    The SIS is a self-report measure of stroke recovery. Specifically, the measure assesses physical, cognitive, psychosocial, community mobility, and general activity performance on a 5 point Likert scale. There is an additional item for overall recovery rated on a scale of 0 (no recovery) to 100 (full recovery). Only the overall recovery score was used in analysis. The change in overall recovery was analyzed and reported. A higher positive change in overall recovery score indicates greater improved change in perceived recovery.

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment) on the participation overall recovery score

  4. Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS): Satisfaction With Social Roles and Activities (Item Bank v2.0).

    The PROMIS Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities item bank assesses satisfaction with performing one's usual social roles and activities. The T-score for this assessment will be used in the analysis. A T score of 50 indicates the population mean with a standard deviation of 10. A higher T score indicates higher satisfaction. Only the change in T score reported. A higher positive T score indicates more improvement in satisfaction with social roles and activities.

    Measured: Change in baseline to follow-up (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted23 Sep 2019
  2. Study start21 Nov 2019
  3. Primary completion12 Sep 2024
  4. Study completion12 Sep 2024

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Model description
A single-blind, parallel, randomized clinical trial design will be used in this study. Randomization will be conducted using stratified randomization. Randomization will be stratified by age (50-68 v 69-85) and stroke severity (NIHSS total score 1-16 v \>16). Within each strata randomization will be blocked to help ensure an equal number of participants have been assigned to each intervention group.
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
72 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT04099511
Sponsor's protocol ID
2015868
Other IDs
R01HD097283
Status last verified
Jan 2026
First submitted
19 Sep 2019
Last updated
7 Jan 2026
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: All de-identified clinical outcome assessment data with accompanying key will be deposited in MOspace Institutional Repository, the University of Missouri's digital institutional repository. MOspace is based on MIT's DSpace technology and is a joint venture of the University of Missouri's Division of Information Technology and the University Libraries. MOspace items will include appropriate metadata and a permanent URL. Items will be freely available via the MOspace web site and will be searchable via Google and other search engines.

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance in people with Stroke, run by University of Missouri-Columbia at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 8 inclusion and 8 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 7 Jan 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 28 Jul 2025). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) (time frame: Change in baseline to follow-up average performance score (12 weeks after post-intervention assessment)). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 7 Jan 2026.

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Metacognitive-Strategy Training in Sub-Acute Stroke | AzTrials