Creation and preliminary validation of the screening for self-medication safety post-stroke scale (S-5).

Rationale And Objective: Patients with stroke should be screened for safety prior to starting a self-medication regime. An extensive literature review revealed no standardized self-medication tool tailored to the multi-faceted needs of the stroke population. The aim of this study was to create and validate a condition-specific tool to be used in screening for self-medication safety in individuals with stroke.

Access and perceived need for physical and occupational therapy in chronic arthritis.

Purpose: Physical and occupational therapy are beneficial for persons with chronic arthritis; however, access is problematic. The goal was to examine issues related to access to these services for patients with chronic arthritis.

Methods: We used two data sources: 1) questionnaires sent to a random sample of 600 family physicians and to all 85 rheumatologists in the province of Quebec; and 2) interviews of 211 patients with physician-confirmed chronic arthritis recruited from 34 primary care settings in Quebec.