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The Indented Paragraph reading test has been presented as a useful screening test for identifying hemispatial neglect, as it has been reported to be more sensitive to mild neglect than text with a predictable format (Caplan, 1987). The number of errors made by 42 right hemisphere-damaged stroke subjects on this test was compared with their performance on text with straight margins and unpredictable text, where both right and left margins were irregularly indented. The inter-rater reliability of the paragraphs was checked for 23 subjects. The scores from the three paragraphs were significantly correlated, and all were able to detect mild neglect. Inter-rater reliability was higher when identifying moderate and severe levels of neglect than mild neglect. Performance on the Indented Paragraph was also compared with that on the Star Cancellation and Article Reading subtests of the Behavioural Inattention Test in a separate group of 56 right hemisphere stroke subjects and found to classify patients differently.

OBJECTIVE To compare the provision of health and social services between a social work intervention and non-intervention group. DESIGN Depressed stroke patients were randomly assigned to either an intervention or non-intervention group. Over a 4 month period both groups were visited three times by an independent assessor who rated them on service provision and functional independence. SETTING Patients' homes. PATIENTS 44 depressed stroke patients. INTERVENTION Both groups were given an information booklet and the intervention group were then visited regularly by a research social worker over a period of 4 months. The social worker adopted a pragmatic approach which included providing counselling and information on services and benefits. MAIN RESULTS The study groups did not differ in level of social independence (p greater than 0.05) or total number of financial benefits (p greater than 0.05), services (p greater than 0.05) or aids (p greater than 0.05) received either before or after intervention. When the results from the two groups were combined, home help and meals-on-wheels were the most frequently provided services (25% of patients). Walking aids (72% of patients) and bath aids (59% of patients) were the most frequently provided aids to daily living. CONCLUSION Social work assistance had little effect on service provision or level of functional independence.

The 'extended activities of daily living scale' was given to 44 depressed stroke patients. All were more than 1 year after stroke. The completed forms were then Guttman scaled to find whether the ranking of the items was valid in this group of patients. The items were not passed in the order expected from the ranking. The results therefore suggest that all items should be assessed when using this scale with depressed stroke patients.