Investigating cognitive impairment, biopsychosocial barriers, and predictors of return to daily life among older stroke survivors.

Purpose: The aim was to investigate the associations between cognitive impairment and biopsychosocial factors among older stroke survivors and predictors of poststroke return to daily life. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study involved 117 stroke survivors (61% men) with an average age of 77 years (range 65-91). The participants completed two questionnaires (Riksstroke and Short Form 36 questionnaires). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to assess cognitive abilities. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework guided the selection of biopsychosocial variables. We used Spearman's correlation coefficient and multiple logistic regression in the analyses. Results: The average MoCA score was 21.7 points (range: 4-30, SD 5.6). The need for assistance from relatives and professionals, need for help with dressing and household chores, reliance on others for mobility, and reading and balance problems were correlated with more severe cognitive impairment (r = 0.20-0.33). Cognitive impairment, fatigue, and balance issues predicted an unfavorable return to daily life (odds ratio: 6.2-6.8). Conclusion: The study indicated that cognitive impairment is associated with difficulties in all ICF domains. Cognitive impairment, fatigue, and balance issues are associated with an unsuccessful return to daily life. Prioritizing these factors and screening for cognitive impairment with objective assessment tools may improve rehabilitation outcomes and enhance overall quality of life poststroke.

The influence of contextual factors on an intervention for people with disabilities from support persons' and health personnel's perspectives: a focus group study.

Introduction: Contextual factors influence interventions in healthcare and pose a particular challenge in interventions designed for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). Exploring support persons' and health personnel's experience of an intervention may improve our understanding of the influence of contextual factors. Such exploration is important for revealing areas and focus points for future implementations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore support persons' and health personnel's experience of contextual factors during involvement in an intervention for people with PIMD. Methods: This focus group study includes eight groups, comprising a total of 34 support persons and health personnel, at habilitation centres at four regions in central Sweden. Data were analysed inductively using a content analysis approach. Results: Three themes emerged from the analysis of the informants' perspectives on the contextual factors: (1) structure and support enhances intervention feasibility; (2) an intervention's benefit for people with PIMD increases its acceptability; and (3) being engaged and involved increases support persons' and health personnel's motivation. Our findings show that the implementation of an intervention for people with PIMD should focus on the recipients of the intervention in its context, forming a clear communication plan. A training programme should be provided for the recipients and providers of the intervention. Discussion: Finally, the implementation process can be facilitated by creating space for staff to contribute and by encouraging participation and ownership for everyone involved. Using a co-design strategy can enable a shared responsibility to solve the identified challenges, while contributing to the development and design of future interventions for people with disabilities.

Health care workers' need for support from managers during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic placed great pressure on health care workers and increased the risk of these workers developing mental illness. Effective leadership is essential to prevent mental illness from developing. The study aim was to investigate health care workers' perceptions of the support given by their managers, their need for such support, and their levels of anxiety during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An electronic study-specific questionnaire was sent to health care workers. A convergent mixed-methods design was used, in which data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-tests, and qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The majority of the 1074 participants experienced support from a manager who was physically present, caring, and sensitive to their needs, who provided information, and listened to their opinions. Those who did not receive this support experienced more anxiety, and the majority of them expressed a need for this support. A minority of the participants had a manager who scheduled reflection time; few asked for this support, and it was not found to be associated with lower anxiety levels. The qualitative analysis resulted in four themes: 1) A physically present and responsive manager who provides support based on the workers' needs, 2) The workers understand their manager's tough work situation and lack of resources, 3) There is a need for clear dissemination of information and participation in organizing the work, and 4) The care of patients is carried out with good cooperation. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the health care workers received adequate support from their managers. A manager has to be physically present, caring, and supportive to meet the workers' needs and potentially reduce anxiety levels.

Salivary cortisol levels and stress in adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities participating in the Structured Water Dance Intervention: a randomised controlled crossover trial.

The Structured Water Dance Intervention (SWAN) is a dance-oriented aquatic group activity directed to give opportunities for the joy of movement, relaxation, and reduced stress. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of SWAN on salivary cortisol and stress in adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). A total of 34 adults with PIMD at four habilitation centres in Sweden completed the SWAN intervention. The intervention was administered for 40 min once a week during a 12-week period. Saliva cortisol was collected in the morning and evening at baseline one week before the intervention, thrice during the intervention period, and one week after the intervention. Moreover, in connection with the SWAN sessions, the participants' level of stress was also assessed by the accompanying assistants. The results showed that salivary cortisol and participants stress decreased significantly, directly after the SWAN sessions compared with measures directly before sessions. The study demonstrates that adults with PIMD have diurnal salivary cortisol patterns consistent with those observed in adults without disability and that the SWAN reduces salivary cortisol levels and stress in people with PIMD; this justifies that SWAN could be considered in the choice of interventions to reduce stress in adults with PIMD.Trial registration: This study is registered 09/04/2019 on ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT03908801).

Contribution of participation and resilience to quality of life among persons living with stroke in Sweden: a qualitative study.

PURPOSE: Resilience contributes to positive adaptation after many health conditions, but little is known about its contribution to long-term recovery after stroke. This study investigated the lived experience of resilience and participation and their relationship to quality of life after stroke in Sweden. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 19 informants (10 male, 9 female), aged from 44-89 years and between 1 and 19 years post-stroke. Stroke severity ranged from mild (n = 8), moderate (n = 9) to severe (n = 2). Interviews were analysed using content analysis. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in an overarching theme; Life with stroke has been adapted to but not accepted, built on five subthemes: 1) Adapting and adjusting life, 2) Meaningful values in life, 3) Inner resources, 4) Support and treatment from social relations, and 5) Support and treatment from external resources. CONCLUSION: Participants described a tension between adapting and accepting life after stroke. Resilience was a useful framework, highlighting the contribution of inner, social and societal resources to recovery and quality of life, both directly and as enhanced through increased participation. Important factors for adaptation are meaningful values in life, individual strategies for adaptation and support from both social relationship and the society.

Residential care staff are the key to quality of health care for adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities in Sweden.

BACKGROUND: People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) have combined severe intellectual and physical disability and need extensive health care support. They cannot communicate by spoken language and need around the clock support. The health care for people with PIMD is typically provided by a number of different health care services in collaboration with residential care staff and their managers. The quality of health care for people with PIMD are important due to their limited ability to communicate their needs. The aim of this study was to explore residential care staff and manager's experiences and views of health care services for adults with PIMD. METHODS: Thirteen semi-structured interviews with residential care staff (n = 7) and managers (n = 6) were conducted and analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The informants expressed a variety of experiences, under the theme was Quality of health care is enhanced through residential care staff. The theme was comprised of four subthemes: (1) Individually tailored support promotes quality, (2) Accessibility requires adaptation and prioritization by healthcare providers, (3) Disability competence promotes quality and safety and (4) Complex collaboration conditions between the person with PIMD, residential care staff and disability health care. CONCLUSIONS: The residential care staff create quality of care in their role as representatives for adults with PIMD. The care situation is complex and requires adequate competence in the disability, the individual's needs and adaptations to ensure quality of health care. It is also important to build collaboration with other services that are involved in the care of people with PIMD.

The utility of goal attainment scaling in evaluating a structured water dance intervention for adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) have problems to be actively involved in essential life activities that affect their health. The aim of this study was to explore the utility of goal attainment scaling (GAS) in evaluating an intervention for adults with PIMD, and to describe how the GAS goals were set according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) domains of body function as well as activity and participation. METHOD: As part of an aquatic intervention (Structured water dance), 28 adults with PIMD received GAS goals which were adapted to their individual needs and which the intervention could affect. RESULT: Twenty of the goals were formulated within the ICF Activity/Participation domain and eight within the Body Functions domains. On average, participants improved by 1.25 levels on the five-level GAS scales. CONCLUSION: GAS can be a useful tool for setting and evaluating individualized and meaningful goals, in body functions as well as in activity and participation, related to a healthpromoting activity for adults with PIMD.

Comorbidity in Stroke-Survivors: Prevalence and Associations with Functional Outcomes and Health.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and impact of stroke-related comorbidity in a community-based sample of stroke survivors. We sought to find out which types of comorbidity that were most important with respect to the patients' functional outcomes and general health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All stroke survivors (n = 330) living in a medium-sized Swedish municipality were included. Patient records were reviewed to determine the presence of comorbidities. A selection of patient reported outcomes were used to assess subjective symptoms, functional outcomes, and general health. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between comorbidities, residual symptoms, and subjective symptoms on the one hand, and functional outcomes and general health on the other hand. RESULTS: Hypertension (80%) was the most common cardiovascular risk factor. Ischemic heart disease was found in 18% and congestive heart failure in 10%. Of non-cardiovascular disorders, orthopaedic diseases were commonest (30%). Psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment were present in 11% and 12% respectively. Hemiparesis is associated with both functional outcomes and general health. Additionally, orthopedic disorders, vertigo, cognitive impairment, nicotine use, chronic pulmonary disorders, and age, are associated with different functional outcomes. Psychiatric, orthopedic and neurological disorders are related to general health. The patient-reported outcome measure "feeling of tiredness" is important for many of the outcomes, while "feeling depressed" and "having pain" are associated with general health. CONCLUSIONS: Many medical conditions, several of which have received little attention so far, are associated with functional outcome and general health in stroke survivors. If the intention is to describe comorbidity relevant to function and general health in stroke patients, disorders that hitherto have received little attention, must be considered.

Navigating change - managers' experience of implementation processes in disability health care: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Effective implementation processes play a central role in health care organizations and affect the care of patients. Managers are pivotal in facilitating the use of new practices, but their experience and how it affects the implementation outcome are still largely unknown. In the field of disability health care in particular, managers experiences have scarcely been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore managers' experiences of the implementation process when transferring new practices into disability health care settings. METHODS: Semi-structured individual telephone interviews were conducted with managers at disability health care organizations in four administrative regions in central Sweden. A total of 23 managers with formal managerial responsibility from both public and private health care were strategically selected to be interviewed. The interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis with an inductive approach. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in two themes about factors influencing the implementation process: firstly, Contextual factors set the agenda for what can be achieved, which highlighted aspects that hinder or enable the implementation process, such as internal and external conditions, the workplace culture, the employees and managers' attitudes and openness to change: secondly, Leadership in the winds of change, which described the challenges of balancing managerial tasks with leading the change, and the importance of a leadership that involves the participation of the employees. CONCLUSIONS: This study explored how and to what extent managers address and manage the implementation process and the many associated challenges. The findings highlight the importance of leadership support and organizational structure in order to transfer new practices into the work setting, and to encourage an organizational culture for leading change that promotes positive outcomes. We suggest that identifying strategies by focusing on contextual factors and on aspects of leadership will facilitate implementation processes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The SWAN (Structured Water Dance Intervention) study was retrospectively registered on April 9, 2019 and is available online at ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT03908801).

Stroke prevalence in a medium-sized Swedish municipality.

OBJECTIVES: Many patients who have had stroke survive with functional disability for years. Stroke prevalence is a fundamental measure of the impact of stroke in society. Stroke prevalence has never been evaluated in Sweden. MATERIALS & METHODS: In this study, we use a registry-based method, using three overlapping Swedish registers, namely, the Swedish Stroke Register (Riksstroke), the National Patient Register, and a primary healthcare-based patient register. Data were gathered from these registers and cross-checked with the population register as per December 31st, 2019, with respect to stroke survivors (ICD-10 I60-I69) living in Kumla (population 21,738), a municipality well representative of Sweden. RESULTS: A total of 330 individuals with stroke were found, of which 42% were women. The mean age was 74.1 years in men and 75.1 years in women. 11.5% of the patients had more than one stroke. The mean duration since the first stroke was 8.3 years. The crude prevalence per 100,000 was 1754 in men, 1281 in women, and 1518 in both sexes. Adjusted to the European population, the ratio was 1570 per 100,000, and to the World population 936 per 100,000. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of a declining stroke incidence in Sweden, the stroke prevalence in Kumla, Sweden, is relatively high. Comparisons with other studies indicate that a decline in prevalence may have occurred since the early 2000s. Modern registers can support data collection, but the index stroke may have occurred almost forty years back in time.

Structured Water Dance Intervention (SWAN) for adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: study protocol.

BACKGROUND: People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) have a combination of severe intellectual disability, extensive physical impairment, sensory impairments and medical health problems. There is, however, a lack of evidence-based physical and health-promoting interventions for people with PIMD. OBJECTIVE: Structured Water Dance Intervention (SWAN) is a new method developed to fill this gap. This paper reports a protocol for an intervention study which aims to evaluate SWAN with regard to its effects on physiological, psychological and social health-related variables as well as its cost-effectiveness and potential for implementation in health care. METHODS: The evaluation of SWAN is performed in a multi-center randomized crossover study. Data is collected through cortisol measurement, physiological assessments, proxy ratings, video observations and interviews. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first attempt to evaluate rigorously an innovative intervention for people with PIMD, a group that is rarely considered for health promotion interventions. This study will provide important information about the efficacy, cost-effectiveness and potential to implement SWAN in health care.

Risk Markers for Not Returning to Work Among Patients with Acquired Brain Injury: A Population-Based Register Study.

Purpose The aim of this study is to investigate person-related, injury-related, activity-related and rehabilitation-related risk markers for not return to work among patients with acquired brain injury (ABI). Methods Retrospective data from the Quality register, WebRehab Sweden, on an ABI cohort of 2008 patients, was divided into two groups: those who had returned to work (n = 690) and those who had not returned to work (n = 1318) within a year of the injury. Results Risk ratio analyses showed that several factors were risk markers for not returning to work: personal factors, including being a woman, being born outside of Sweden, having a low education level, and not having children in the household; injury-related factors, including long hospital stay (over 2 months), aphasia, low motor function, low cognitive function, high pain/discomfort, and high anxiety/depression; activity-related factors, including low function in self-care, inability to perform usual activities, and not having a driver's license; and rehabilitation-related factors, including being dissatisfied with the rehabilitation process and the attentiveness of the staff having limited influence over the rehabilitation plan, or not having a rehabilitation plan at all. Conclusion Several factors in different aspects of life were risk markers for not returning to work among patients with ABI. This suggests that rehabilitation and interventions need to address not only direct injury-related issues, but also person-related, activity-related, and rehabilitation-related factors in order to increase the patient's opportunities to return to work.

Change in quality of life in relation to returning to work after acquired brain injury: a population-based register study.

PURPOSE: This study investigated changes in quality of life (QoL) in relation to return to work among patients with acquired brain injury (ABI). METHOD: The sample consisted of 1487 patients with ABI (63% men) aged 18-66 years (mean age 52) from the WebRehab Sweden national quality register database. Only patients who worked at least 50% at admission to hospital and were on full sick leave at discharge from hospital were included. QoL was measured by the EuroQol EQ-5D questionnaire. RESULTS: Patients who returned to work perceived a larger improvement in QoL from discharge to follow-up one year after injury compared to patients who had not returned to work. This difference remained after adjustment for other factors associated with improved QoL, such as having a university education, increased Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale scores and getting one's driving licence reinstated. CONCLUSION: Return to work is an important factor for change in QoL among patients with ABI, even after adjusting for other factors related to QoL. This is consistent with the hypothesis that having employment is meaningful, increases self-esteem and fosters participation in society. Thus, helping patients with ABI return to work has a positive influence on QoL.

Opportunities and barriers for successful return to work after acquired brain injury: A patient perspective.

BACKGROUND: Many people who suffer an acquired brain injury (ABI) are of working age. There are benefits, for the patient, the workplace, and society, to finding factors that facilitate successful return to work (RTW). OBJECTIVE: The aim was to increase knowledge of opportunities and barriers for a successful RTW in patients with ABI. METHOD: Five men and five women with ABI participated. All had successfully returned to work at least 20 hours a week. Their experiences were gathered by semi-structured interviews, which were subsequently subjected to qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Three themes that influenced RTW were identified: individually adapted rehabilitation; motivation for RTW; and cognitive and social abilities. An individually adapted rehabilitation was judged important because the patients were involved in their own rehabilitation and required individually adapted support from rehabilitation specialists, employers, and colleagues. A moderate level of motivation for RTW was needed. Awareness of the person's cognitive and social abilities is essential, in finding compensatory strategies and adaptations. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that the vocational rehabilitation process is a balancing act in individualized planning and support, as a partnership with the employer needs to be developed, motivation needs to be generated, and awareness built of abilities that facilitate or hinder RTW.

Support Persons' Perceptions of Giving Vocational Rehabilitation Support to Clients With Acquired Brain Injury in Sweden.

The aim of this article is to explore the perception of being a support person for clients with acquired brain injury undergoing vocational rehabilitation. Nine support persons, identified by clients with brain injury, were interviewed. Interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, resulting in 3 themes for assisting the client: commitment, adaptation, and cooperation. Within each theme, multiple dimensions were identified, reflecting the complexity of vocational rehabilitation following acquired brain injury. Commitment built on social relations is linked to sustainability of support. The included support persons' role was especially valuable in contexts where adaptation and cooperation were required.