Occupational Therapy

Performance, Participation and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory

Mission

To improve the participation outcomes of persons with mild neurological injuries.

General laboratory description

The goal of Dr. Wolf’s lab is to generate knowledge that will guide intervention aimed at improving participation in work and community activities post- neurological injury. The majority of the current research in this laboratory is with individuals with stroke and cancer-related cognitive impairment. The two primary objectives of this research are: (1) to identify and manage cognitive, primarily functional cognitive, deficits to improve participation after neurological injury; and (2) to investigate the efficacy of self-management education and cognitive-strategy training based interventions to improve health and participation outcomes after neurological injury. Dr. Wolf collaborates with investigators at University of Missouri, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Toronto, St John’s Rehabilitation Hospital (Toronto, ON), and University of Illinois-Chicago, Samuel Merritt University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Michigan.

Focus areas

Cognition, Occupational Performance, Participation, Neurological Injury

Current projects

  1. Principal Investigator, Efficacy of Metacognitive-Strategy Training to Improve Activity Performance and Reduce Motor Impairment In Sub-Acute Stroke. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (NICHD/NCMRR), R01HD097283
    • The major goals of this project are to evaluate if a novel metacognitive strategy training intervention, that targets engagement in activity rather than impairment reduction, can improve activity performance and also reduce impairment in individuals with sub-acute stroke.
  2. Co-Investigator, Medication Adherence after Stroke (MAST). National Institutes of Health (NIH) (NICHD/NCMRR), R03HD097729 (Schwartz, PI)
    • The goal of this study is to better understand the barriers affecting stroke survivors’ medication adherence. This knowledge will be used to create new effective medication adherence interventions that promote stroke survivors’ overall health and well-being.
  3. Co-Principal Investigator, Better Living after Stroke through Technology (BLAST) National Institutes of Health (NIH) (NINR), R44NR016183. (Yang, Co-Principal Investigator).
    • The goal of this study is to build and test a consumer-oriented self-management tool, BLAST, to help individuals with mild stroke and their family members/caregivers return back to their productive and meaningful lives.