Biopsychosocial Intervention for Stroke Carers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Biopsychosocial Intervention for Stroke Carers (BISC) Study
IRAS ID
166836
Contact name
Marion Walker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research Innovation Services, University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The advances in stroke rehabilitation mean that more patients than ever are now residing in the community with informal support from their spouse or other informal carer. The transition from hospital to home setting can be perceived as both demanding and complex, which can have an adverse impact on the health and quality of life of both the stroke patient and carer. Currently services do not focus on providing support to carers to adjust to the caregiving role and its demands.
Our aim is to develop, tailor and target the delivery of a behavioural intervention that satisfies the unique needs and difficulties experienced by carers of stroke patients. We will first develop the intervention program by conducting focus groups with carers of stroke patients and then finalise the precise content of the intervention with expert panellists within this field. The main purpose of the intervention is to improve the adjustment and mood of carers. Ultimately we would like to know if the intervention improves the long term outcome of carers of stroke patients and survivors themselves. However first, we must make sure that we can identify suitable people who would benefit from the intervention, and that people are willing to complete all sessions provided. Participants will be identified and screened for inclusion on hospital discharge. We will collect descriptive and clinical data on each consenting participant such as age, home circumstances, employment status, current mood etc. We will randomly allocate carers to either receive the behavioural intervention for a period of 6 weeks or to a control group who will receive usual care. After the intervention has been completed we will collect quantitative and qualitative data from both groups which we will then analyse to inform a future definitive trial.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/1264
Date of REC Opinion
4 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion