Use of the Nottingham Health Profile with patients after a stroke

Abstract

The Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) is easy to use with stroke patients and may be used with those who cannot manage more complicated mood questionnaires, such as the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Stroke patients rate their health, and especially emotions and feelings of social isolation, as much worse than that of people of similar age. NHP emotion scores correlate with objective measures of disability, length of hospital stay, and GHQ scores. The NHP is a valid indicator of depressed mood, and combining its components into a total score gives the greatest accuracy in detecting depression. Patients with high scores at one month continued to report large numbers of problems at six months after their stroke. Many patients experienced pain, disturbed sleep, and social isolation, which are important, potentially treatable problems not usually considered in the management of stroke patients. Many patients with problems did not see their general practitioner or any other source of help, and additional follow up was needed.