Evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of the 'Care for Stroke' intervention in India, a smartphone-enabled, carer-supported, educational intervention for management of disability following stroke.

Abstract

(1) To identify operational issues encountered by study participants in using the 'Care for Stroke' intervention; (2) to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Mixed-methods research design. Participant's home. Participants were selected from a tertiary hospital in Chennai, South India. Sixty stroke survivors treated and discharged from the hospital, and their caregivers. 'Care for Stroke' is a smartphone-enabled, educational intervention for management of physical disabilities following stroke. It is delivered through a web-based, smartphone-enabled application. It includes inputs from stroke rehabilitation experts in a digitised format. Evaluation of the intervention was completed in two phases. In the first phase, the preliminary intervention was field-tested with 30 stroke survivors for 2 weeks. In the second phase, the finalised intervention was provided to a further 30 stroke survivors to be used in their homes with support from their carers for 4 weeks. (1) operational difficulties in using the intervention; (2) feasibility and acceptability of the intervention in an Indian setting. Disability and dependency were assessed as secondary outcomes. Field-testing identified operational difficulties related to connectivity, video-streaming, picture clarity, quality of videos, and functionality of the application. The intervention was reviewed, revised and finalised before pilot-testing. Findings from the pilot-testing showed that the 'Care for Stroke' intervention was feasible and acceptable. Over 90% (n=27) of the study participants felt that the intervention was relevant, comprehensible and useful. Over 96% (n=29) of the stroke survivors and all the caregivers (100%, n=30) rated the intervention as excellent and very useful. These findings were supported by qualitative interviews. Evaluation indicated that the 'Care for Stroke' intervention was feasible and acceptable in an Indian context. An assessment of effectiveness is now warranted.