Implementation of a new strategy to support stroke survivors and their carers in the long-term: Moving Forward.
Three teams across the Yorkshire and Humber region are currently providing a novel service for stroke survivors and their carers, developed by the Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research (AUASR) as part of a National Institute for Health Research funded programme grant. The new service comprises individualised supported problem solving, help to develop social support and brief, usable information. In practice this focuses on the needs a survivor considers relevant and supports them to develop ways of overcoming these needs that are fitting for them. Training and materials help the facilitator to deliver the intervention. The teams have implemented and adapted the service in their localities with the support of the AUASR as part of an action research process to field test and develop the strategy. Early results of the implementation are promising, with sites successfully setting up and providing the service to dozens of survivors. Qualitative feedback indicates the service has changed the institutional mindset to life after stroke away from a medical perspective, can build confidence in survivors and change their behaviour. These new services would not have been implemented without the research conducted in this programme grant. This new strategy will next be tested in a cluster randomised feasibility trial ahead of a definitive trial and national roll-out.