Home visits in stroke rehabilitation (version 1)

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Home visits-are they more than equipment recommendations? What do patients perceive as the value of a pre-discharge home visit in stroke rehabilitation?

• IRAS ID

  169028

• Contact name

  Justin Needle

• Contact email

  justin.needle1@city.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  City University, London

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 6 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  A stroke can have devastating consequences with many individuals returning
  home with changes to their physical, cognitive, communication and emotional
  well being. Home visits are commonly carried out by Occupational Therapists (OT) within stroke rehabilitation. The home visit allows the OT to assess how a patient will carry out daily tasks at home through directly observing them within their home environments. Currently, there is no national or profession specific guidance to advise OT’s when conducting a home visit.

  The process of a home visit has been poorly researched. The evidence surrounding home visits has mainly been in answer to whether falls prevention, equipment provision and environmental adaptations are successful outcomes. Of these studies, little comes from patients, with professionals and caregivers/relatives perspectives influencing the existing knowledge base. Additionally,there have been no identified studies focusing on the psycho-social impact of a home visit in stroke rehabilitation.

  This study employs Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) with semi structured interviews in an attempt to understand the patient’s lived and personal experience of a home visit following a stroke. 15 Patients will be recruited from 3 inpatient rehabilitation wards in The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Purposive sampling will be used to capture the experiences of younger adults (18-64), older adults (65+), and adults living alone to compare the similarities/differences of each sub group.Each participant will have 2 interviews; one before, and one following their home visit.

  Study aims
  -What do home visits symbolise for patients and what do they feel is the
  emotional/psycho-social impact of a home visit?
  -What is the relationship between home visits and a patient’s
  adaptations/adjustment process?
  -What changes in patient’s outlook do they report before and after their home
  visit and to what extent do they feel the home visit influences this?
  -How might these findings be incorporated in the practice of home visits and influence future professional policy

• REC name

  London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/LO/0502

• Date of REC Opinion

  27 Mar 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion