Abstract: We included five studies involving 266 participants (136 intervention; 130 control). All participants were adult stroke survivors, living in the community or a care home. Programmes to improve community ambulation consisted of walking practice in a variety of settings and environments in the community, or an indoor activity that mimicked community walking (including virtual reality or mental imagery). Three studies were funded by government agencies, and two had no funding. From two studies of 198 people there was low quality evidence for the effect of intervention on participation compared with control (SMD, 0.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.20 to 0.35 (using inverse variance). The CI for the effect of the intervention on gait speed was wide and does not exclude no difference (MD 0.12, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.24; four studies, 98 participants, low quality evidence). We considered the quality of the evidence to be low for all the remaining outcomes in our review: Community Walk Test (MD -6.35, 95% CI -21.59 to 8.88); Walking Ability Questionnaire (MD 0.53, 95% CI -5.59 to 6.66); Six-Minute Walk Test (MD 39.62 metres, 95% CI -8.26 to 87.51) and self-efficacy (SMD 0.32, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.72). We downgraded the quality of the evidence because of a high risk of bias and imprecision. There is currently insufficient evidence to establish the effect of community ambulation interventions or to support a change in clinical practice. More research is needed to determine if practicing outdoor or community walking will improve participation and community ambulation skills for stroke survivors living in the community.

Plain-language summary: The evidence in this review is current to November 2013. We included five studies with a total of 266 participants. All participants were adult stroke survivors who lived in the community or a care home. Programmes to improve community ambulation consisted of walking practice in a variety of settings and environments in the community (three studies), or an activity indoors that mimicked community walking (three studies). Three studies were funded by government agencies, and two had no funding. The term 'participation' refers to the ability of a person to engage in activities that are meaningful to them, such as leisure activities, paid or volunteer work, or socialising with others. For the primary outcome of participation we could not be sure whether the intervention improved participation compared with control (two studies). When considering how fast a person walks, it is unclear if the speed of walking may increase with a community ambulation intervention ( four studies). Based on the included studies, the effect of the intervention on the ability to walk, how far people could walk in six minutes or their confidence in walking is unclear. There is currently insufficient evidence to establish the effect of community ambulation interventions or to support a change in clinical practice. No adverse effects of the interventions were reported in any of the included studies. We considered the quality of the evidence to be low across the studies for both the participation and walking speed outcomes. There were some study design considerations which led to the low score, such as who knew what group the participants were in, and the number of people who dropped out of the studies. Also, we included a small number of studies in this review, which limits how the results can be interpreted. More research is needed in this area.