Impact of COVID-19 on the stroke rehabilitation pathway: multidisciplinary team reflections on a patient and carer journey from acute to community stroke services

Lucas, Lauren; Gordon, Sophie; Heyes, Ruth

doi:10.1136/bcr-2021-245544

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Despite the relaxing of the COVID-19 measures and coming back to normal service delivery, the most striking issue in current practice for community services is how to manage the long waiting list of patients especially with the current early discharge policy. Our findings support the results of another study that early supported discharge plans for stroke patients were inappropriate, such as being unsafe and uncoordinated [ 39 ]. Patients were found to be discharged with delays in installing home equipment and further community rehabilitation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Exploring the experiences of people who had a stroke and therapists who managed people with stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory qualitative study

Sahely

Hew²,

Chan³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective To explore experiences, needs and rehabilitation priorities of patients who had their stroke and the experiences of therapists managing stroke patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design Exploratory qualitative study. Setting Acute, sub-acute and community stroke facilities. Subjects Twenty-two participants. Twelve therapists (all female, mean age 38.5 years) and ten patients (9 female, mean age 51.1 years) who were involved in stroke rehabilitation during the pandemic were interviewed. Methods Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviews were recorded and transcribed before being analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach. Results Four main themes demonstrate the modifications in the care system as a result of COVID-19, impact on the stroke patients at different stage, needs and priorities of stroke rehabilitation, and management strategies that have been used in stroke rehabilitation. Remote rehabilitation and self-management strategies were recommended to deliver care for stroke patients. However, therapists seemed unsatisfied with the quality of care delivered and patients suggested face to face delivery of care with proper personal protection equipment to better address their physical and mental health needs. Conclusion The findings of this study explored the impact of the pandemic on stroke care from the perspective of the patients and therapists and provides suggestions for improved delivery of care in similar situations. Future research is warranted to examine the long-term effects on people who had inadequate post-stroke rehabilitation during covid pandemic and urgent measures taken to reduce the impact the pandemic has had on the physical and mental issues for these patients.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Exploring the experiences of people who had a stroke and therapists who managed people with stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory qualitative study

Sahely

Hew²,

Chan³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Findings in the study, however, reveal that COVID-19 restrictions negatively impacted on support groups, which resulted in patients and caregivers being isolated because they lacked opportunities to engage with others. Lucas et al (2021) support the findings of this study in that persons with aphasia were unable to access local support groups for peers, thus impacting on their ability to create peer support networks. Additionally, this finding is also supported by a study conducted by Hack (2021) where persons with aphasia expressed feeling lonely, missing their aphasia group therapy, having difficulties with communication and worrying about losing their group members to COVID-19 after the abrupt end to their group therapy sessions.…”

Section: Mental Health Challengessupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Where caregivers were involved, they took up multiple roles and as a result they felt overwhelmed, which may have had a negative impact on their mental health. Lucas et al (2021) agree with this finding in that hospital visitations by caregivers of persons with aphasia were suspended and that the caregivers were therefore unable to be involved in the rehabilitation process of the patients. This affected the functioning of the caregivers as they felt isolated and unable to observe the progress made by their loved ones.…”

Section: Mental Health Challengessupporting

confidence: 83%

The effects of COVID-19 on the rehabilitation of persons with aphasia: A scoping review

Masuku

Khumalo

Shabangu

2022

SAJCD

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background:The impact of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was more pronounced on the well-being of persons with disabilities, especially in low-and middleincome countries. There is documented evidence of the rippling effects of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities. However, not much is known about the impact of COVID-19 on the rehabilitation of persons with aphasia.Objective: The scoping review explores how COVID-19 affected the rehabilitation of persons living with aphasia.Method: A scoping review was conducted using Arksey and O'Malley's framework. A search was conducted on Science Direct, PubMed, Medline, Scopus, ProQuest and Google Scholar, to identify relevant studies published between 2019 and 2022. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Most studies regarding the effects of COVID-19 on persons living with aphasia were conducted in the United Kingdom. Five themes emerged from the data, namely, (1) negative impact on rehabilitative care, (2) telehealth and its limitations, (3) impact on social participation, (4) compromised caregiver involvement and ( 5) mental health challenges.Conclusions: Findings highlight the need for healthcare professionals to pursue innovative ways in which aphasia rehabilitation and conversational support programmes can be made accessible to persons with aphasia, despite the limitations brought about by a pandemic. Telerehabilitation programmes need to be tailored to the needs of persons with aphasia if they are to be successful. This study highlights the importance and need for the prioritisation of mental health services for persons with aphasia and their caregivers during a pandemic.

show abstract

“…In order to overcome these impacts, digital interventions have been proposed to show promising results, although they need attention for neurological patients for safety reasons (Pelicioni et al, 2020). The pandemic introduced numerous changes in the stroke patient's multidisciplinary rehabilitation, like: hospital visits suspended, replaced with virtual contact using iPad; use of facemasks and visors; community clinic spaces closed; local lockdowns and public health restrictions closing local community resources; virtual support groups (Lucas et al, 2021). People post-stroke also admit to have decreased their level of physical activity because of the restriction measures, fear of infection by Sars-cov2 and their lack of motivation and self-efficacy, which are well documented barriers of physical activity (Ezeugwu et al, 2017;Thilarajah et al, 2018).…”

Section: Barriers To Physical Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID-19 on community-dwelling people post-stroke and informal caregivers: a qualitative study

Dias,

Cravo,

Santos

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background/ aims: Little is known about the experience of people post-stroke and their informal caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to understand the challenges faced by people post-stroke and informal caregivers during the pandemic, as well as the impact on their healthcare support, lifestyle, and self-care behaviors. Methods: A multi-perspective qualitative study was undertaken, with semi-structured interviews being carried out to sixteen participants: eight stroke patients and eight informal caregivers, mostly performed online. Reflexive thematic analysis was used, with data being independently coded and categorized before consolidated into themes and subthemes. Findings: Three themes were derived from the data analysis: i) Perceived impact of COVID-19 pandemic, ii) What helped? - strategies to manage the distress provoked by COVID-19, and iii) The value of rehabilitation and physical activity, with findings highlighting the negative psychological impact of the pandemic. In response to the perceived lack of support and access to health and social services, participants highlighted the use of digital approaches and professional support. Conclusions: Findings suggest the importance of self-management support and/or digital content in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The involvement of peers, family members, friends or others seems to be an important strategy to increase motivation in remote rehabilitation and physical activity.

show abstract

Impact of COVID-19 on the stroke rehabilitation pathway: multidisciplinary team reflections on a patient and carer journey from acute to community stroke services

Cited by 7 publications

References 7 publications

Exploring the experiences of people who had a stroke and therapists who managed people with stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory qualitative study

Exploring the experiences of people who had a stroke and therapists who managed people with stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory qualitative study

The effects of COVID-19 on the rehabilitation of persons with aphasia: A scoping review

The impact of COVID-19 on community-dwelling people post-stroke and informal caregivers: a qualitative study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About