# Quantifying Post-Stroke Community Participation:  Filling the Gap between Ability and Reality

> **NIH VA I21** · VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION · 2021 · —

## Abstract

Background/Purpose: Approximately 15,000 Veterans are hospitalized for stroke each year. The ability to “get
out and about” in the community is considered to be either essential or very important to a majority of stroke
survivors. Reduced levels of community ambulation and community participation, decreased satisfaction with
levels of outdoor mobility and community reintegration, and perceived difficulty in coping with outdoor
locomotion, have all been reported in individuals post-stroke. A return to community-based ambulation is a
primary rehabilitation goal for many survivors of stroke. Accurately quantifying community mobility, therefore, is
an important for post-stroke rehabilitation goal-setting and treatment planning. The criteria for the
measurement of community ambulation has historically concentrated on mobility dimensions such as temporal
and distance factors, as those were felt to best reflect the dimensions of the task. These measures, however,
evaluate the individual in an unfamiliar environment, derive mobility from brief snapshots of walking
performance, are not sensitive to subtle changes in function and do not directly assess an individual's free-
living ambulation. There is a current unmet need for a measurement tool to objectively record ambulation in the
real-world, outside of the clinic setting, that can parse ambulation in the home from true ambulation within the
community. We will enroll 30 post-stroke ambulatory community-dwelling Veterans to validate and assess the
feasibility of an innovative, wearable Global Positioning System (GPS)/Activity Monitor package to differentiate
steps taken in the community versus steps taken in the home. Results will inform any adjustments to be made
prior to using this sensor package in a full-scale study that will assess personal, social and physical factors that
contribute to community walking.
Subjects: Thirty individuals > 6-months post-stroke will participate. Additional study criteria include: 1) able to
follow 3-step command, 2) gait speed > 0.4 m/s, 3) ambulatory without physical assistance, 4) no other
neurological diagnosis, 5) no history of intermittent claudication, 6) no angina at rest or with minimal exertion,
7) no history of COPD, 8) not currently receiving physical rehabilitation services, 9) presence of a caregiver.
Methods: To test the concurrent validity of the GPS/Activity Monitor package, participants will navigate a 300
meter combined indoor/outdoor walking circuit consisting of steps, ramps, curbs and sidewalks with the sensor
package affixed to their nonparetic ankle, under direct observation of a physical therapist who will utilize a step
counter, stop watch and field notes, to record steps taken, time and distance walked and participant location.
To test the feasibility of this novel sensor package, participants will wear the package for seven days during
free-living community ambulation. Participants will don the package when they arise and doff it at bedtime.
T...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10074160
- **Project number:** 5I21RX003336-02
- **Recipient organization:** VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
- **Principal Investigator:** Dorian K Rose
- **Activity code:** I21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-11-01 → 2021-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10074160

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10074160, Quantifying Post-Stroke Community Participation:  Filling the Gap between Ability and Reality (5I21RX003336-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10074160. Licensed CC0.

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