Psychosocial/Behavioral Intervention in Post-Stroke Depression

The primary aim of this study is to determine the effect of a nurse-delivered psychosocial/behavioral intervention on reduction of depression in community dwelling post-stroke patients. We expect the combined behavioral and pharmacologic intervention to be more effective than pharmacotherapy alone in sustaining the improvement in depression for the experimental group. Secondary aims are to examine the effect of the psychosocial/behavioral intervention time course and sustainability of response to treatment, effect on limitations in ability, limitation in participation and overall stroke impact in community-dwelling post-stroke patients, and to compare ischemic stroke survivors who are and are not depressed within the first four months following stroke by their 5-HTTLPR genotypes (s/s, s/l, or l/l).