Medical rehabilitation

Objectives: There is inconclusive evidence of the effectiveness of stroke rehabilitation by a community stroke team. The aim was to evaluate a specialist multiprofessional team in a community setting.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Community.

Participants: Stroke patients and their informal carers who were referred to receive rehabilitation from a community stroke team.

Purpose. To explore: (a) the type and frequency of care-giving activities provided by family members in the Rehabilitation Setting (RS), (b) opportunities for family members to receive training in care-giving activities, (c) to what extent caregivers feel free to ask the nursing staff for help and (d) to estimate the number of nursing staff required to substitute this care and thus to estimate the money saved by the RS due to the in-hospital informal care.

This study reports research on the experiences of stroke survivors and their informal carers who are receiving stroke services in the community. As part of a qualitative evaluation of a Pilot Community Stroke Service in Nottingham, England, interviews were conducted with stroke survivors, their families and friends, alongside interviews with the managers and professionals providing the service.