Implementing community stroke telerehabilitation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding how stroke telerehabilitation works and for whom to inform recommendations for practice; the TELSTAR study
IRAS ID
342953
Contact name
Niki Chouliara
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Background
Telerehabilitation is the remote provision of rehabilitation services, including assessment, therapy, and education. Telerehabilitation complements face-to-face care and could help community stroke services provide more therapy to more people, regardless of where they live. Exploring the experiences and perspectives of clinicians and stroke survivors is required to understand how it benefits people, examine how easy or difficult it is to use as part of routine care and identify training and support needs.
Aims:
To explore clinicians’ and patients’ experiences and perspectives of stroke telerehabilitation in the community to inform recommendations for practice.Methods
This is a qualitative interview study conducted in three community stroke rehabilitation services in England. Data collection and analysis will be guided by a realist methodological approach to develop and test hypotheses about how telerehabilitation works, for whom and in what conditions. Over a period of 1 year, we will collect information through: 1) Semi-structured qualitative interviews with stroke survivors and family caregivers (where available). Interviews will take up to 45 minutes, including informed consent, and will be conducted in person or online based on participants’ preferences, 2) Focus groups, lasting up to 60 minutes, with staff members involved with commissioning, managing and delivering rehabilitation in participating sites.Implications for practice
Findings will offer a better understanding of how telerehabilitation is delivered in clinical practice and highlight barriers to setting up and accessing telerehabilitation services. We will develop recommendations and information materials to promote awareness of what telerehabilitation is and support stroke survivors and clinicians in this new way of working.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0154
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion