The RESCUE problem solving intervention for stroke caregivers: A mixed-methods pilot study.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: Stroke caregivers face many challenges after a family member experiences stroke. Because caregivers play such a crucial role in health care, there is a need for more interventions in web-based formats that focus on caregiver psycho-education and skills building. A pilot study was devised to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and value of an active, 4-week telephone and web-based intervention for stroke caregivers. METHOD/DESIGN: A one-group, pretest-posttest design with a mixed-methods approach was used. Qualitative data supplemented the quantitative findings. Community-dwelling caregivers of stroke patients were recruited from the Veterans Health Administration. Quantitative data were collected pre and postintervention. Semistructured interviews were completed with a subsample of caregivers to capture more detail about the acceptability and value of the intervention. RESULTS: Ninety-three caregivers were recruited; 72 caregivers completed the intervention and 21 withdrew (77% completion rate). From pre- to posttest, caregiver depression (p = .008) and caregiver burden (p = .013) decreased. Problem-solving abilities and health-related quality of life showed no change. Seventy-eight percent of caregivers rated the intervention sessions with the nurses as very helpful or extremely helpful, and 76% reported using the problem-solving strategies a moderate amount to extremely often. Interviews suggest that the intervention was valuable and led to new strategies to relieve stress and prioritize health. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The intervention was feasible to implement and acceptable to caregivers. This intervention shows promise for fulfilling a need for more web-based interventions that focus on skills building and psycho-education, but more rigorous testing is needed to determine effectiveness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Thinking through every step: how people with spinal cord injuries relearn to walk.

In this article we explore how people with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) create meaning out of their changing bodies as they undergo a therapeutic intervention called locomotor training (LT). Therapeutic interventions like LT are used to promote the recovery of walking ability among individuals with iSCI. The chronological nature of this study--interviews at three points throughout the 12-week intervention--enhances understanding of the recovering self after spinal cord injury. Drawing on a constructivist theoretical framework, we organize data according to three narrative frames. Participants interpreted LT as (a) a physical change that was meaningful because of its social significance, (b) a coping strategy for dealing with the uncertainty of long-term recovery, and (c) a moral strategy to reconstitute the self. We offer findings that lay the conceptual groundwork for generating new knowledge about what is important to people with iSCI as they relearn how to walk.