Study of mood after stroke often focuses on depression; however, anxiety is also common. Here, we found that of those with ischemic stroke about 13% had anxiety, 3.7–4.5% had depression and 8–10% had both at 1- and 12-months after stroke. Most of those with anxiety at 12-months had neither depression nor anxiety at 1 month.

Wearable devices, such as accelerometers, offer new ways to assess arm movement in individuals recovering from a stroke. This study, conducted with 12 stroke survivors, aimed to investigate the practicality, acceptability, and limited effectiveness of using accelerometers in a self-directed arm rehabilitation program. While most participants found the wearable devices feasible, one-third reported discomfort, suggesting the need to consider this aspect in planning future studies.

Fatigue is a major disabling condition and a substantial barrier to engaging in rehabilitation and other activities that improve quality of life after stroke. Here we present cut-off scores clinicians could use to determine if an individual patient has had a clinically reliable increase, decrease or no reliable change in fatigue scores using the Fatigue Severity Scale. These scores are provided on the basis of a large sample (n = 338) and presented by stroke type and ischaemic stroke subtypes.

This study provides an exploration of the perspectives of health professionals on supporting people with stroke to increase their physical activity. It highlights that physical activity is a complex goal for people with stroke requiring tailored solutions in a resource-constrained health system. Clearly defined roles, pathways for people with stroke to access routine support, funding for staff time and capacity-building initiatives targeting healthcare providers’ self-efficacy may enable health professionals to facilitate post-stroke physical activity.

Little is known about health literacy in TBI survivors. We examined health literacy in a large cohort (n = 209) of individuals with a single complicated mild to severe TBI at least 1 year previously (up to 30 years 6 months) and compared data with a control group. Health literacy performance in individuals with TBI was not significantly different from that of controls, using the Health LiTT-SF measure. This may be partly due to the comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation received and critical cognitive reserve from high premorbid education.