Glenn V. Ostir, Ivonne Berges, Margaret Ottenbacher, James E. Graham , Kenneth J. Ottenbacher
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-0193

Objective: Interest in exploring the positive emotional health of adults has increased. The current study investigated the positive emotion of adults with stroke at discharge from in-patient medical rehabilitation and 3 months post-discharge.
Design: A longitudinal study in which information was collected during in-patient medical rehabilitation stay and 3 months post-discharge.
Subjects: The study included 856 persons with stroke aged 55 years or older.
Results: Mean age for the sample was 72. 5 years, 78. 7% of subjects were non-Hispanic white and 51. 9% were women. Mean length of hospital stay was 20. 2 days. More than one-third of patients reported higher positive emotion over the 3-month follow-up, while 29. 7% reported lower positive emotion. In addition to discharge positive emotion, 4 factors, including depression, level of education and motor and cognition functional status score, significantly predicted lower depression at 3-month follow-up.
Conclusion: A large percentage of adults reported high positive emotion in the initial months following a stroke. This finding adds to work on stroke recovery and indicates the emotional resilience of adults when faced with a health challenge. Understanding the role of positive emotion in persons living with stroke may provide insight into long-term recovery.