Coproducing an intervention to support stroke unit staff to provide information about recovery to patients and carers

Objective

Stroke survivors and their carers report receiving insufficient information about recovery, particularly how much is expected and the associated timescales. Providing this information is challenging for stroke unit staff, due to concerns about maintaining patients' hope and motivation for rehabilitation, and a lack of training. We aimed to design an intervention to support staff to provide information about recovery in ways which meet patient and carer needs.

Methods

Five stroke survivors, four carers, and six stroke unit professionals participated in six, monthly coproduction workshops.

Results

The group created an intervention designed to increase staff confidence and skills in providing post-stroke recovery information. The intervention encourages a patient-centred approach and includes good practice guidance and a training package for staff (including communication skills training), with associated materials to deliver the approach.

Conclusion

An evidence-based, theory-informed intervention has been coproduced, with the potential to meet the needs of intervention targets (staff) and information recipients (patients/carers).

Innovation

A novel approach to designing an intervention to improve provision of post-stroke recovery information was employed. Inclusion of stroke survivor and carer perspectives aimed to ensure the intervention would meet patients and carers' needs, whilst professionals' perspectives ensured it was feasible to implement in practice.