# Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Improve Neuropsychological Functioning in Acquired Brain Injury

> **NIH VA I01** · VA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE SYS · 2020 · —

## Abstract

Stroke affects approximately 800,000 Americans every year, including thousands of Veterans, and is a
leading cause of disability in the US. While many stroke patients receive rehabilitation during the acute
and post-acute phases of stroke, many individuals suffer chronic deficits and have few options for
continued treatment. A number of low-cost, alternative treatments are now being tested for their
usefulness in treating neuropsychological deficits in chronic stroke patients. One of the best studied of
these treatments is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which involves an 8-week course led
by a trained instructor. MBSR teaches individuals strategies for coping with their injury, such as
meditation, breathing techniques, and yoga. A handful of preliminary studies have shown that MBSR is
effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression in stroke patients, as well as enhancing
performance on cognitive tasks. However, only a single randomized controlled trial of MBSR in stroke
has been published to date, and that study suffered from a number of weaknesses such as the lack of
an active control group. Moreover, no previous study has assessed the usefulness of MBSR for stroke
in a Veteran population. Therefore, the current study proposes to undertake a rigorous, randomized
controlled trial of MBSR in Veterans with a history of stroke, using an active control group, blinded
examiners, and a 6-month follow-up session to determine whether the benefits of MBSR are long-lasting.
For the study, 120 Veterans with a history of chronic stroke will be recruited: 60 participants will be
randomly assigned to the MBSR intervention, and 60 participants will be assigned to a Brain Health class
that is matched to the MBSR intervention with respect to the instructor, number of hours of instruction,
homework activities, and class size. A blinded examiner will complete a neuropsychological assessment
of patients’ emotional and cognitive status at three time points: 1) prior to the intervention, 2) following
the intervention, and 3) six months later. Evaluation of the MBSR intervention will test for improvements
in anxiety and depressive symptomatology following the intervention, relative to the Brain Health group,
as well as improvements on a cognitive test battery. It is predicted that improvements associated with
the MBSR intervention will still be present at the 6-month follow-up assessment as well. The final
objective of the current proposal is to determine whether the site of a patient’s stroke plays a role in their
ability to benefit from MBSR. Previous research has suggested that left prefrontal cortex plays a critical
role underlying the effects of MBSR. Thus, it is predicted that involvement of this brain region will
modulate the observed effects. Such information could be used to target those Veterans who can most
benefit from the proposed intervention. If shown to be effective, MBSR could provide a low-cost, non-
invasive rehabilitative treat...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9834167
- **Project number:** 1I01RX002951-01A2
- **Recipient organization:** VA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE SYS
- **Principal Investigator:** Juliana V. Baldo
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2019-11-01 → 2023-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9834167

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9834167, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Improve Neuropsychological Functioning in Acquired Brain Injury (1I01RX002951-01A2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9834167. Licensed CC0.

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