Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Enhancing the Functional and Employment Outcomes of Individuals who Experience a Stroke

Stroke is a very common disorder, constituting the largest source of severe continuing disability in the United States . It affects people in diverse age groups, of both genders, and all ethnic backgrounds. Although stroke often affects those at or beyond retirement age, about one-third of stroke survivors are under age 65 years. Many stroke survivors want to return to work and be active in the community but their working environment and communities need to be able to support these objectives.

As new and better stroke treatments have become available, the number of stroke survivors living in the community has increased. Therefore, not only is there a need for further research on promising new interventions that promote health and function, but also a growing need for interventions that can be delivered in home and community settings.

In this grant, we are conducting a series of studies of rehabilitation interventions and assessments focused on improving mobility, improving employment outcomes, and increasing the stroke survivor’s ability to participate fully in their communities.

Throughout the five-year grant, we will engage students from Northwestern University’s engineering school as a means to provide intensive efforts to create and implement novel designs and to provide valuable opportunities for training students in the themes related to recovery of function and community integration.

For more information about these projects and other RRTC activities, we invite you to visit the Research and Training sections located in the RRTC section of this Web site. If you would like more information about specific projects, contact information is provided for each project.