| Sumario: | Depression negatively affects functional status and recovery potential for patients with many chronic diseases and for elderly patients. The purpose of this research was to determine what could be said with confidence regarding the relationships between post-stroke depression, functional status, and the mediating strategies of physical rehabilitation and pharmacologic treatment. To accomplish this purpose, a model of depression and functional status in stroke survivors was proposed and tested using meta-analytic techniques. Using a derived conceptual model derived f, it was proposed that depression and functional status were related and could be mediated when they operated through the health care system. An extensive review of the stroke research completed after 1989 resulted in the identification of 31 subject-studies that examined depression and functional status in the post-stroke survivors. Twenty-six of the studies were non-experimental and 5 were randomized clinical trials. Meta-analytic methods were used to synthesize the results of the subject-studies. A small to moderate population Effect Size (ES) r of 25 (P = .000, k = 21, N = 2310) with a Binomial Effect Size Display (BESD) of .37 - .63 was found for a homogenous grouping of non- experimental studies examining the relationship between depression and functional status in the post-stroke P population. A moderate to large ESr of .43 (P = .000, k = 5, N = 182), with a BESD of 29 - .71, was found for a homogeneous grouping of experimental studies examining the relationship between depression and functional status in the post-stroke population when mediated by physical rehabilitation and pharmaeologic treatment for depression. Analysis of the derived model, Depression and Functional Status in Stroke Survivors, supports the existence of a statistically and clinical significant relationship between depression and functional status, and pharmaeologie treatment and physical rehabilitation mediate that relationship. The reciprocal interaction between depression and functional status can best be approached through appropriate and timely treatment of both post-stroke manifestations, depression and functional deficit.
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