Kristen Mauk

Associate Professor of Nursing

Revolutionizing healthcare for stroke patients

Every 45 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a stroke. Thanks to Kristen Mauk’s research, healthcare for those patients is undergoing a revolution.

Mauk, who is a specialist in gerontology (the study of health care for older persons) and rehabilitation (care of those with disabilities), has developed a new model – dubbed the “Mauk model” – identifying six phases of post-stroke recovery. Mauk posits that in each phase, patients have different psychological and physical needs that must be addressed for a successful recovery. Her model enables nurses to quickly and correctly identify the phase a patient is in, then provide appropriate and targeted assistance – a critical tool that until now was not part of the “toolkit” healthcare providers were using.

“There’s a lot of medical information about strokes, but not nearly as much giving nurses tools to successfully work with stroke victims,” Mauk says. “That’s what my research aims to change. It’s important that nurses have the education they need to help stroke survivors reach that final phase in which they are owning the reality of their condition and dealing successfully with it.”

This simple but revolutionary model came out of Mauk’s dissertation research. She was working with “grounded theory” (a method in which a testable theory arises directly from the data) for post-stroke recovery, reading everything she could find written by stroke patients or healthcare workers. She remembers the spine-tingling “Ah-Ha” moment when she realized there was a clear pattern of recovery among stroke survivors.

“I had been reading case after case and suddenly there it was! There were clear phases in stroke recovery and it was so obvious. Then I started interviewing survivors and they validated my ideas.” Mauk worked with her dissertation committee to create a visual model of the 6-phase recovery process and is now polishing her findings.

She is further testing parts of the model via activities like a small pilot study involving Valpo nursing students. This research will determine if students can successfully analyze case studies using the model and correctly assess which phase of recovery the patient is in. Mauk has also given presentations about her model to an array of professional organizations including the American Stroke Association, the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, and the Royal College of Nursing’s International Rehabilitation Nursing Conference at which she was the keynote speaker.

Related info:

College of Nursing

Because of her work, Mauk received the 2005 Association of Rehabilitation Nurses’ highest honor: the Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to the profession and this organization. Still, Mauk says there is no reward quite like teaching in the classroom. “I have always felt that if you have God-given gifts you need to use them. I have been given the gift of teaching so this is how I give back. I love my VU students and know that we are turning out good nurses. We are changing the world in our own way.”

Mauk will also be changing her students’ world when a new textbook that she is editing, “Introduction to Gerontological Nursing”, is published next year. The text prepares nursing students to care for older patients by using the American Nursing Association’s and Hartford Foundation’s “recommended competencies” framework. In the chapter dealing with stroke recovery, the Mauk model will be featured.

How does Mauk feel about her potentially revolutionary contribution to healthcare? As a nurse she says she cannot imagine a better situation. “My model is about helping stroke survivors see light at the end of the tunnel. Once they get to the other side, which is adjustment and adaptation to their situation, they can feel like they are in control again and they can still have a good life! There is nothing better you can do in nursing than to help people change their lives.”