The RehArt Project

A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF ENRICHED ENVIRONMENTS IN INPATIENT STROKE REHABILITATION

The RehArt project is a randomized controlled trial designed to evalaute the effectiveness of adding an Enriched Environment to standard inpatient rehabilitation in stroke survivors.

The study is conducted by a multidisciplinary team of experts in occupational therapy, neuropsychology, neurology, physiotherapy, nursing, and health economics.

A total of 90 stroke survivors in the subacute phase will be recruited during their hospital stay and randomly assigned to one of the three rehabilitation programs.

STUDY ARMS

1. Standard care
Usual multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation program.		2. Increased physical activity
Standard care plus additional daily individual physical exercises.		3. Enriched Environment
All groups receive standard multidisciplinary rehabilitation, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.

All groups receive standard multidisciplinary rehabilitation, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.

AIMS OF THE STUDY

The main goal is to determine whether adding an enriched intervention to a standard rehabilitation program leads to better recovery outcomes compared to standard care alone.

Specifically, we aim to:

  • Evaluate improvements in daily functioning.
  • Assess motor, cognitive, emotional, and quality of life outcomes.
  • Understand which factors influence recovery (e.g., motivation, cognitive reserve, social support, reward to music, lesion characteristics).
  • Explore the experiences of inpatients and healthcare professionals.
  • Assess the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the intervention.

STUDY DESIGN

Participants are hospitalized in the neurological rehabilitation unit at Hospital de l’Esperança (Hospital del Mar), Barcelona, Spain.

They take part in a 3-week inpatient rehabilitation program, followed by a 1-month follow-up.

ASSESSMENTS TIMEPOINTS

T0
Hospital admission (baseline)		T1
Hospital discharge (post-treatment)		T2
One-month follow-up

HYPOTHESES

  1. The Enriched Environment intervention will lead to greater improvements in daily functioning and overall recovery compared to standard rehabilitation alone.
  2. Increased physical activity alone will improve outcomes compared to standard treatment, but less than the enriched intervention.
  3. Individual factors such as motivation, social support, and cognitive reserve will influence treatment response.
  4. The intervention will be feasible, well accepted, and cost-effective in a routine clinical setting.

LATEST UPDATES

Our research is moving forward!

We are currently in the recruitment phase, having just included participant number 28 to the study.

Stay tunned as we continue to gather data and work toward our final objectives.

RECRUITMENT PROGRESS

28 / 90

participants enrolled

ABOUT

This page presents the RehArt research line, which focuses on the study of enriched rehabilitation environments in inpatient stroke rehabilitation. The aim is to provide evidence-based information for the general public, stroke survivors and families, clinicians, and decision-makers.

CONTACT

You can reach the team at:

[email protected]

FUNDED BY

This project has been funded by Grant PID2023-149792OA-I00 (MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and by ERDF/EU from the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, and Innovation of the Spanish Goverment to EUIT University Center.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101126533.

PARTNER INSTITUTIONS