Inclusion of relatives in stroke rehabilitation: Perception of quality of services they received in the context of early supported discharged (ESD), in- and out-patient services

ABSTRACT

Background

Relatives of stroke patients should be an integral part of the continuum of rehabilitation services.

Objective

The objective was to describe their perception of the quality of the services they received in the context of early supported discharged (ESD), in- and out-patient rehabilitation services.

Methods

Descriptive study using the Quality of Services Questionnaire for Relatives post-stroke (QSQR) completed online by relatives after the patient’s discharge. It consists of 22 statements with respect to three subscales: 1) the training/instructions, 2) the information provision and 3) the organizational process of the service offer. Space is allowed for free comments and two open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, and we used a content analysis for qualitative data.

Results

One-third (30/90; 33.3%) of the sample are composed of relatives aged 55 and under, with a majority (81%) of women and 51.3% of spouses. The training/instructions and information provision were perceived positively with a mean % agreement at 85.0 ± 29.6 and 84.8 ± 22.4, respectively. The mean % agreement was 91.4 ± 17.8 for the organizational process subscale. A significantly higher score (p = 0,03; Kruskal Wallis test) was found for out-patient services (n = 20) as compared to ESD (n = 29) or in-patient rehabilitation (n = 41). Qualitatively, a lack of involvement of relatives was mentioned as well as a lack of personalized information about stroke and its consequences and provision of resources available. However, communication between professionals, their availability, and their professionalism were appreciated.

Conclusion

Despite quantitative high scores, qualitative data allowed the identification of concrete avenues for improvement to truly and systematically include relatives in stroke rehabilitation.

KEYWORDS:

• Stroke
• rehabilitation
• relatives
• quality of services
• early supported discharged
• support
• information and training

Ethics approval

Obtained from Research Ethics Board of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of greater Montreal (CRIR)

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This study was realized with no specific funding support. AR was supported by a senior career award from the Quebec Research Agency – Health (FRQ-S)