This study aims to investigate the relationship between motor imagery skills and neglect level, upper extremity motor function, activities of daily living, quality of life, lateralization performance, and mental timer performance in individuals with stroke. Individuals with stroke who meet the inclusion criteria and voluntarily agree to participate will be evaluated. Demographic and clinical information of the participants will be recorded on an assessment form prepared by the researcher. Upper extremity motor functions will be assessed using the Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity Motor Assessment Scale and the Wolf Motor Function Test; activities of daily living will be assessed using the Modified Barthel Index; and quality of life will be assessed using the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale. Motor imagery skills will be measured using the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire and a mental timer task; upper extremity lateralization performance will be assessed using the Recognise™ application. Neglect level will be assessed using the Catherine Bergego Scale, the Line Splitting Test, and the Star Erase Test. The data obtained will be statistically analyzed to examine the relationships between motor imagery skills and other clinical variables.
Stroke is a condition characterized by impaired cerebrovascular circulation due to bleeding or blockage, resulting in problems such as weakness on one side of the body, mobility, balance, coordination, and cognitive impairment. Motor impairment, usually restricting movement of the face, arm, and leg on one side of the body, affects approximately 80% of stroke individuals. Upper extremity function is significantly reduced in about 80% of stroke individuals due to spasticity and muscle weakness, which restricts elbow extension movement. Problems with shoulder, arm, hand, and wrist function-in short, upper extremity disorders-are very common after a stroke. These upper extremity disorders generally involve difficulty with arm, hand, and finger movement and coordination, significantly limiting individuals' interaction with their environment and functionality. In addition to motor losses, spatial neglect due to right hemisphere lesions is one of the frequently observed neuropsychological problems after a stroke. Neglect syndrome is characterized by an individual's inability to perceive, direct attention to, or maintain bodily awareness in the spatial area opposite to the damaged hemisphere of the brain. This negatively impacts motor performance and daily living activities, reducing the effectiveness of rehabilitation. In individuals with severe neglect, the use of the affected side decreases, slowing functional recovery. In recent years, motor cognition-based methods have gained increasing importance in post-stroke rehabilitation alongside classical approaches. One of these methods, motor imagery (MI), is the process of mentally visualizing a movement without actually performing it. Neuroimaging studies have shown that the brain regions activated during motor imagery are largely similar to the motor areas activated during actual movement. Therefore, it is suggested that there may be a relationship between motor functions and motor imagery ability in stroke patients. However, the reported results in this area are inconsistent in stroke patients. Although motor impairments do not directly reflect performance in imagery, motor consequences resulting from brain damage negatively affect imagery, and generally, more severe motor impairments have been associated with weaker imagery ability. Research has shown that individuals with high motor imagery skills experience positive effects in terms of motor performance and learning. Conversely, a decrease in imagery capacity or factors affecting the cognitive representation of movement (e.g., neglect or lateralization disorders) can limit the effectiveness of the rehabilitation process. Therefore, it is important to comprehensively investigate the relationships between motor imagery skills and neglect, upper extremity function, activities of daily living, and quality of life in individuals after a stroke. Based on this information, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between motor imagery skills and the level of neglect (neglet), upper extremity motor function, activities of daily living, quality of life, lateralization performance, and mental rotation ability in individuals after a stroke. Hypotheses: 1. Hypothesis: Motor imagery skills in individuals after a stroke are related to the level of neglect (neglet). 2. Hypothesis: Motor imagery skills in individuals after a stroke are related to the level of upper extremity motor function. 3. Hypothesis: Motor imagery skills in individuals after a stroke are related to activity of daily living performance. Hypothesis 4: Motor imagery skills in individuals after stroke are related to their quality of life level. Hypothesis 5: Motor imagery skills in individuals after stroke are related to lateralization performance. Hypothesis 6: Motor imagery skills in individuals after stroke are related to mental rotation ability.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
50
No intervention will be made; an assessment will be conducted.
Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity Motor Assessment Scale
Fugl-Meyer and colleagues developed the Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment Scale in 1975 by expanding on Brunnstrom's motor assessment method. The scale is a widely used, reliable, and valid test for assessing paretic upper extremity motor impairment in stroke patients. The FM-UE is a 33-item sub-section of this scale. The scale evaluates the movement, coordination, and reflexes of the shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, and fingers. Each parameter is scored between 0 and 2 points, with a maximum score of 66, indicating good motor function. In tests evaluating upper extremity movement, the scoring is as follows: 0: movement cannot be performed, 1: movement is partially performed, and 2: movement is performed normally.
Time frame: 6 mounth
Kinesthetic and Visual Imagination Questionnaire (KVIQ)
The KGIA will be used to evaluate motor imagery skills. The Turkish validity and reliability study of the scale developed by Malouin et al. was conducted by Dilek et al. The questionnaire, administered with the assistance of an evaluator, consists of 10 movements and assesses how well participants can visualize and feel the movements. Participants are first asked to perform the movement actually, and then to visually and kinesthetically imagine the same movement. The level of visual and kinesthetic imagery is scored between 1 (no image/feeling) and 5 (very clear/very intense), and visual and kinesthetic imagery scores are calculated at the end of the evaluation.
Time frame: 6 mounth
Catherine Bergego Scale
It is a scale that assesses neglect syndrome by directly observing daily life. The 10-item scale was developed by Professor Philippe Azouvi (1996). The Turkish validity and reliability study was done by Kulaç et al.
Time frame: 6 mounth
Line Bisection Test
The line-splitting test is one of the tests used in the clinical diagnosis of neglect syndrome. In this test, patients are presented with a sheet of paper printed on A4 paper, consisting of straight horizontal lines of varying lengths. These lines are positioned in the center, to the right, and to the left of the paper. The paper is placed in front of the patient, in the midline. In this test, the patient is asked to mark the midpoint of all the lines on the paper. Patients with neglect often mark the right side of the original center.
Time frame: 6 mounth
The Star Cancellation Test
The Star Erase Test was developed in 1987 by Wilson, Cockburn, and Halligan. It consists of an A4-sized sheet of paper with randomly distributed small stars, large stars, words, and letters. In the Star Erase Test, there are 52 small stars interspersed among 52 large stars, 10 short words, and 13 letters. The paper is placed mid-line directly in front of the patient, and the patient is asked to mark the small stars. The maximum score is 54, as the two middle stars are marked as examples by the observer. A score of 51 or lower indicates visual inattention.
Time frame: 6 mounth
Wolf Motor Function Test
The WMFT was developed by Wolf et al. to evaluate motor skills in patients with upper extremity motor dysfunction and was later modified by Morris et al. for use in patients with lower motor function. In this study, the modified WMFT will be used. The test consists of 17 tasks, including 2 muscle strength items and 15 functional activities. Functional activities are scored on a 0-5 scale, and the average score represents the functional ability score, with higher scores indicating better motor performance. Performance time for each task is also recorded, with a maximum time limit of 120 seconds per activity. Participants are instructed to perform each task as quickly as possible after the command "start. "
Time frame: 6 mounth
Lateralization Assessment
Upper extremity right/left lateralization performance will be evaluated using the "Recognise™" application developed by the Neuro-Orthopaedic Institute. The "Recognise™ Hand" and "Recognise™ Shoulder" sections, specifically the "Vanilla" version of these sections, will be used. A total of 20 shoulder and 20 hand images will be displayed for 5 seconds, and participants will be asked to press the right or left button on the screen as accurately and quickly as possible, without focusing on their extremity. Participants will be allowed to practice before the actual assessment. Accuracy rates and reaction times will be recorded.
Time frame: 6 mounth
Mental Cronometre Time
This will be used to evaluate the chronometric aspect of motor imagery. A towel folding task will be given for the mental timer. First, the motor imagery task will be performed. The time displayed on the screen will be recorded by the observer. For the physical phase of the test, the same procedure will be performed and the time recorded using a timer. The mental timer ratio will be calculated.
Time frame: 6 mounth
Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale
The Quality of Life Assessment Scale (QQS), developed by Williams et al. in 1999, consists of 49 items covering 12 subcategories (mobility, fitness, upper extremity functionality, work/productivity, mood, self-care, social roles, family roles, language, vision, thinking, and personality) that assess the quality of life of individuals with stroke. The QQS is a 5-point Likert-type scale; the higher the total score (1=Strongly agree, 2=Partially agree, 3=Neither agree nor disagree, 4=Partially disagree, 5=Disagree), the better the quality of life of the stroke individual. The Turkish validity and reliability of the scale was established by Hakverdioğlu et al.
Time frame: 6 mounth
Modified Barthel Index
The Daily Living Independence Scale (DLI), used to measure individuals' independence in activities of daily living, is a modification of the Barthel Index. The DLI includes 10 items related to activities of daily living (eating, personal hygiene, bathing, dressing, bowel and bladder care, toilet use, ambulation, transfers, and stair climbing). Each item in the DLI has levels from 0 to 5. A different scoring system is used for each activity (for example, the scores for the eating sub-item are 0-2-5-8-10, while the scores for the transfer sub-item are 0-3-8-12-15). At level 1, the individual is unable to perform the activity, while at level 5, the individual can perform the activity unaided, albeit slowly. The total score ranges from 0 to 100. As the score increases, the individual's independence in activities of daily living increases. The DLI has good reliability and validity. The Turkish validity and reliability of the scale was established by Küçükdeveci et al.
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Time frame: 6 mounth