Effects of a Self-Management Group-Intervention on Participation in Post-Stroke Patients.

At enrollment eligible patients will be randomized to Intervention + Standard Care or Standard Care group. Within 3 weeks after enrollment all participants will undergo baseline assessment using a predefined set of scales and questionnaires (intervention group will additionally undergo a semi-structured interview). The group-intervention (SM program) will begin after enrollment of at least 4 participants to the intervention group, and within no longer than 5 weeks since enrollment. The intervention will include 12 weekly sessions, each session 2.5 hour long, and will be based on well-known SM interventions that were found effective for stroke patients in the U.S. Standard care will include 'one-on-one' sessions in each paramedical discipline as given regularly in this setting (average of 15-20 sessions per patient). Follow-up measures will be performed within a week after the end of the intervention, and 6 months thereafter, in order to examine long term effectiveness. Outcome measures are questionnaires; change will be assessed by the difference in total score between T1 |(pre-intervention), T2 (post-intervention) and T3 (after 6 months)