Methods to assess aphasic stroke patients.

The Community Stroke Study was designed to raise the quality of life and improve the long-term rehabilitation outcomes of neurologically impaired stroke patients. This threeyear randomized clinical trial is based on a program that was developed by Valerie Eaton Griffith in Great Britain to help patients recover from stroke through the efforts of community volunteers(I-5). Although her program has expanded to 63 stroke schemes in the United Kingdom with approximately 2,000 patients receiving volunteer visits, Griffith's intervention had never before been replicated and scientifically tested through a randomized clinical trial(6). With funding from the Health Services Research and Development Service of the Veterans Administration , the Community Stroke Study enlisted the aid of over 100 community volunteers trained by nurses and