UC Irvine

We investigated motivational regulation involving goal adjustment processes in post-stroke rehabilitation under conditions of standard in-clinic physiotherapy and in-home gamified tele-rehabilitation (TR). Data were collected at 11 US sites in the context of a tele-rehabilitation clinical trial using video games and game control pads designed to induce certain arm movements required for recovery (n = 124; Mage = 61.44, SD =13.30). Participants were randomly assigned to either the TR or in-clinic condition and underwent 36 therapy sessions while reporting on their physical activity enjoyment for 6–8 weeks. Compared to the in-clinic patients, the TR patients reported lower activity-inherent motivation indicated by the level of enjoyment experienced. Results suggested this difference was due to TR patients becoming discouraged by low game score feedback, which may have signaled a poor prospect for recovery. However, those low game performers who also exhibited high goal adjustment capacity were resilient to the impact of low game score feedback on their motivation-related enjoyment. The findings of the study suggest that goal adjustment capacity may be particularly important under conditions with limited motivational support.