Title: Using technology to increase activity during inpatient rehabilitation: initial evaluation of a Virtual Engagement Rehabilitation
Funder: Stroke Association

Abstract: Stroke strikes in the brain, the body’s control centre. Its devastating effects change lives in an instant but rehabilitation can help people to recover and adapt to live the best life they can after stroke. Unfortunately, very few stroke survivors receive enough rehabilitation therapy in the weeks and months following their stroke, or in the longer-term. The Virtual Engagement Rehabilitation Assistant (VERA) is a new technology in the early stages of development. It could be used by stroke survivors as a personalised planner, providing them with information and reminders about their treatment, and a way to track their progress in between therapy sessions. Healthcare professionals, such as physiotherapists, could use VERA to provide personalised exercises, information and check a person’s progress. But, before VERA can be recommended for stroke survivors, more research is needed to improve its design and find out more about the difference it could make to people affected by stroke. What are the project team hoping to do? The project team will work with stroke survivors and healthcare professionals to improve the design of VERA and get a better understanding of how it can be used for rehabilitation. For example, they’ll collect information on whether stroke survivors like using VERA and how frequently different people use different features of the new technology. They’ll then collect information and test VERA to find out if it can be used by stroke survivors staying in rehabilitation treatment centres, and what difference it could make to their recovery and quality of life. By collecting information from stroke survivors and healthcare professionals about VERA, the new technology can be improved. But before VERA can be offered as a treatment, more studies will be needed to find out how effective this technology could be in helping stroke survivors. This study can provide vital evidence to build the foundation for these future studies.

Lay abstract: Stroke strikes in the brain, the body’s control centre. Its devastating effects change lives in an instant but rehabilitation can help people to recover and adapt to live the best life they can after stroke. Unfortunately, very few stroke survivors receive enough rehabilitation therapy in the weeks and months following their stroke, or in the longer-term. The Virtual Engagement Rehabilitation Assistant (VERA) is a new technology in the early stages of development. It could be used by stroke survivors as a personalised planner, providing them with information and reminders about their treatment, and a way to track their progress in between therapy sessions. Healthcare professionals, such as physiotherapists, could use VERA to provide personalised exercises, information and check a person’s progress. But, before VERA can be recommended for stroke survivors, more research is needed to improve its design and find out more about the difference it could make to people affected by stroke. What are the project team hoping to do? The project team will work with stroke survivors and healthcare professionals to improve the design of VERA and get a better understanding of how it can be used for rehabilitation. For example, they’ll collect information on whether stroke survivors like using VERA and how frequently different people use different features of the new technology. They’ll then collect information and test VERA to find out if it can be used by stroke survivors staying in rehabilitation treatment centres, and what difference it could make to their recovery and quality of life. By collecting information from stroke survivors and healthcare professionals about VERA, the new technology can be improved. But before VERA can be offered as a treatment, more studies will be needed to find out how effective this technology could be in helping stroke survivors. This study can provide vital evidence to build the foundation for these future studies.

Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS;7.3 MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING
Health categories: STROKE