A Critical Review of Psychosocial Outcomes Following Childhood Stroke (1995–2012)

Childhood stroke (CS) is a neurological condition occurring in 7:100000 children (Hartel, Schilling, Sperner, & Theyen, 2004 Hartel, C., Schilling, S., Sperner, J. and Theyen, U. 2004. The clinical outcomes of neonatal and childhood stroke: A review of the literature and implications for future research. European Journal of Neurology, 11: 431–438. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Consequences include physical, cognitive, and language deficits and psychosocial disturbance, with the latter least researched. We critically reviewed the literature over the last 18 years. We identified 16 papers addressing psychosocial outcomes, which highlighted that CS confers increased risk of psychosocial impairment. Little is known regarding the contribution of stroke-specific and environmental influences. Small samples, variable age at onset and time since onset, lack of controls, and a focus on parent ratings limit generalizability of findings. Further investigation is needed to provide information regarding rehabilitation within the psychosocial domain.