Trials (Oct 2023)

Study protocol for a randomized, controlled, multicentre, pragmatic trial with Rehabkompassen®—a digital structured follow-up tool for facilitating patient-tailored rehabilitation in persons after stroke

  • Xiaolei Hu,
  • Per Liv,
  • Erik Lundström,
  • Fredrik Norström,
  • Olof Lindahl,
  • Kristian Borg,
  • Katharina S. Sunnerhagen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07673-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 1
pp. 1 – 15

Abstract

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Abstract Background Stroke is a leading cause of disability among adults worldwide. A timely structured follow-up tool to identify patients’ rehabilitation needs and develop patient-tailored rehabilitation regimens to decrease disability is largely lacking in current stroke care. The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel digital follow-up tool, Rehabkompassen®, among persons discharged from acute care settings after a stroke. Methods This multicentre, parallel, open-label, two-arm pragmatic randomized controlled trial with an allocation ratio of 1:1 will be conducted in Sweden. A total of 1106 adult stroke patients will have follow-up visits in usual care settings at 3 and 12 months after stroke onset. At the 3-month follow-up, participants will have a usual outpatient visit without (control group, n = 553) or with (intervention group, n = 553) the Rehabkompassen® tool. All participants will receive the intervention at the 12-month follow-up visit. Feedback from the end-users (patient and health care practitioners) will be collected after the visits. The primary outcomes will be the patients’ independence and social participation at the 12-month visits. Secondary outcomes will include end-users’ satisfaction, barriers and facilitators for adopting the instrument, other stroke impacts, health-related quality of life and the cost-effectiveness of the instrument, calculated by incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). Discussion The outcomes of this trial will inform clinical practice and health care policy on the role of the Rehabkompassen® digital follow-up tool in the post-acute continuum of care after stroke. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04915027. Registered on 4 June 2021. ISRCTN registry ISRCTN63166587. Registered on 21 August 2023.

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