Development of the stroke patient concerns inventory: A modified Delphi study.

Objectives: Stroke survivors often have unmet physical, psychological and/or social concerns. Patient Concerns Inventories (PCIs) have been developed for other health conditions to address concerns. Our objective was to develop a PCI for stroke care.

Development of a behaviour change intervention to increase upper limb exercise in stroke rehabilitation.

Background: Two thirds of survivors will achieve independent ambulation after a stroke, but less than half will recover upper limb function. There is strong evidence to support intensive repetitive task-oriented training for recovery after stroke. The number of repetitions needed is suggested to be in the order of hundreds, but this is not currently being achieved in clinical practice.

Self-reported long-term needs after stroke.

Background And Purpose: Development of interventions to manage patients with stroke after discharge from the hospital requires estimates of need. This study estimates the prevalence of self-reported need in community-dwelling stroke survivors across the United Kingdom.

Methods: We conducted a survey of stroke survivors 1 to 5 years poststroke recruited through Medical Research Council General Practice Research Framework general practices and 2 population-based stroke registers.

Cluster randomized controlled trial of a patient and general practitioner intervention to improve the management of multiple risk factors after stroke: stop stroke.

Background And Purpose: Stroke is a major public health concern worldwide and survivors remain at high risk of recurrence. Secondary prevention requires management of multiple risk factors but current management is suboptimal. Evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to improve poststroke risk factor management from well-designed trials is limited.

Streamlined research governance: are we there yet?

Despite the promise of a new streamlined process for gaining research ethics and governance approval, Nina Fudge, Judith Redfern, Charles Wolfe, and Christopher McKevitt argue that the process is still dogged by delay and arbitrary decisions.

Patterns of smoking cessation in the first 3 years after stroke: the South London Stroke Register.

Background: Stroke survivors are at high risk of recurrent strokes and other vascular events. Smoking is an established risk factor for stroke, with cessation recommended for secondary prevention. Little is known about patterns of smoking cessation after stroke.

Stop Stroke: development of an innovative intervention to improve risk factor management after stroke.

Objective: Stroke survivors are at high risk of stroke recurrence yet current strategies to reduce recurrence risk are sub-optimal. The UK Medical Research Council (MRC) have proposed a framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions, such as community management of stroke secondary prevention. The Framework outlines a five-phased approach from theory through to implementation of effective interventions.

Development of complex interventions in stroke care: a systematic review.

Background And Purpose: Stroke care is complex, requiring input from professionals, patients and carers. Identifying and developing appropriate intervention components to meet these complex needs is difficult. The Medical Research Council (MRC) Framework for developing and evaluating 'complex' (nonpharmacological) interventions aims to improve intervention development.

Qualitative studies of stroke: a systematic review.

Background And Purpose: Qualitative studies are increasingly used to investigate social processes and phenomena influencing health behaviors and service provision. We aimed to identify the scope of published qualitative studies of stroke, consider their relevance to development and delivery of services for people with stroke, and make recommendations for future work.

Methods: Literature review of published articles was identified by systematically searching online literature databases using keywords from the start of each database until 2002.

Health care follow-up after stroke: opportunities for secondary prevention.

Background: Stroke patients have a 15-fold increased risk of a recurrence, but management of risk factors following stroke has been found to be unsatisfactory. Little is known about health service follow-up of patients after stroke or, consequently, the opportunities for providing secondary prevention to patients.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between health service follow-up and management of risk factors after stroke.