Feasibility of a Physiotherapy Programme, with Integrated TelerehabIlitation to Increase Rehabilitation Time and Improve Motor Function

About two thirds of people after stroke have some level of disability. Rehabilitation helps to reduce disability and supports people to return to a meaningful life. We know that the more rehabilitation you do especially, within the first six months after stroke, the better the outcome. However, rehabilitation services, especially in the community, are often lacking, non-specialist or provide only a limited number of therapy sessions. Recently national guidelines for care of people after stroke recommend that people receive up to three hours/day of therapy on at least five days/week. NHS services cannot provide this level of therapy so new ways to support people to increase the amount of therapy they do on their own is needed. The aim of the research is to test a 16 week community, home-based physiotherapy programme to improve the amount of therapy exercise a stroke survivor does, therefore improving the outcome and reducing the level of disability. Participants will be recruited as they transition from inpatient services to community physiotherapy. Participants will be randomised to either the control or intervention arm. Participants in the intervention arm will take part in a 16-week community, home-based physiotherapy programme. Within the 16-week intervention, participants will receive 5 home based and 4 remote appointments which will comprise of usual physiotherapy assessment and exercise prescription that incorporates 1) Personalised online exercise programme delivered through the Giraffe platform; 2) Goal setting and Action Planning (G-AP); and 3) Supported self-management approaches. Participants will receive an intervention workbook to support them with strategies to achieve their goals and build their self-management skills e.g. how to integrate therapy into their daily life, dealing with barriers, identifying social support networks. Participants randomised to the control group will receive usual multi-disciplinary rehabilitation from their care team (e.g., physiotherapist, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists) as per their NHS Health boards care plan. The study will measure both feasibility outcomes associated with the implementing the study alongside clinical and wellbeing measures. To test the feasibility of the study we will assess how many people agree to take part, complete the exercise sessions and complete the outcome measurements. We will also interview people affected by stroke, their significant others if appropriate, and therapists to get their views on the programme. We will do clinical assessments too at four time points across the study looking at walking ability, arm function, level of disability, confidence level, fatigue and quality of life.