The relationship between neuropsychological measures and self-care skills in patients with cerebrovascular lesions.

The present investigation examined the relationship between performance on the Michigan Neuropsychological Battery (MNB) and selected self-care skills in a group of patients with unilateral cerebrovascular lesions. Among MNB measures, left-sided somatosensory and motor functions were the best predictors of self-care skills, showing that in these stroke patients lower level cerebral functions mediated by the right hemisphere are more strongly related to the self-care skills examined than higher cerebral functions. Also, evidence that patients with cerebrovascular lesions in the left hemisphere performed better than patients with right hemisphere lesions in several self-care categories is further indication that right hemisphere processes have a special role to play in the mediation of these self-care activities. The research and clinical implications of these findings are noted.