MERITS v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
MEntal practice for the RehabIliTation of the upper-limb in acute Stroke: a feasibility randomised controlled trial with process evaluation
IRAS ID
343322
Contact name
StJohn Crean
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Lancashire
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 13 days
Research summary
We want to see if people can take part in a study of Mental-Practice following suffering a stroke, to understand if it is possible to do a larger study in the future to test if Mental-Practice works.
We will ask 80 people who are in hospital within four weeks (two weeks where possible) of having a stroke and are having rehabilitation for their arm and hand to take part. Participants will be put into two group and either use Mental-Practice or a Relaxation-Control treatment for 20 minutes a day, five days a week, for six weeks. Both treatments are delivered by a digital application on a tablet computer, which will also record how often they used Mental-Practice or Relaxation-Control treatments.
We want to know how many people after a stroke are willing and able to take part. We also want to see if they used Mental-Practice, and how well we can measure how it might work. We will talk to participants and clinicians to understand what they thought about the study and the treatments. This will help us decide if we can do a future study, guide us to design it, and help us improve the Mental-Practice treatment and digital application.REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/LO/0461
Date of REC Opinion
12 Jun 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion