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Enhancing Quality of Life for Individuals with Stroke (EQL-stroke) is an international, collaborative multiphase project aiming to strengthen supported self-management for older adults recovering from stroke at home in Sweden, Latvia and the Netherlands. Existing poststroke pathways may provide insufficient support for self-management during the transition from hospital to home, and there is limited evidence on interventions that integrate social networks and everyday environmental context.
EQL-stroke uses a participatory, multimethod design across three phases. Phase I generates knowledge through policy review, qualitative interviews and people–place mapping (~25 participants per country) and includes cross-cultural adaptation of the Collective Efficacy of Networks Scale. Phase II co-designs and specifies a tailored social network-informed supported self-management intervention (the Network-Based Intervention), including core components and principles for local adaptation (~15 participants per country). Phase III will recruit approximately 20–40 stroke survivors for a single-arm pilot feasibility study with an 8-week follow-up and embedded process evaluation to assess feasibility, acceptability and fidelity in routine practice.
Ethical approval has been obtained from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reg. no. 2025-00083-01), the Rīgas Stradina Universitāte Research Ethical Committee (reg. no. Rīgas Stradina Universitāte Research Ethical Committee) and the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen (reg. no. 2025-07). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, stakeholder engagement activities and patient/public channels.
Digital interventions may be a way of increasing access to rehabilitation after stroke, but there is limited knowledge on how they are perceived by stroke survivors. F@ce 2.0 is a home-based person-centred intervention for stroke rehabilitation that focuses on daily activities and participation in everyday life. The intervention spans over 8 weeks and uses Short-Message-Services (SMSs) to support goal achievement.
The aim of this study was to explore and describe experiences of rehabilitation with F@ce 2.0 from the perspective of people with stroke.
Qualitative inquiry was based on individual interviews at two time points, post-intervention and 6 months post-inclusion. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Home-based stroke rehabilitation in Sweden.
Twelve stroke survivors with mild to moderate stroke.
Three themes and seven sub-themes were constructed. The main themes were ‘Setting personally relevant goals requires a trusting relationship’,‘ SMSs as a tool for person-centred rehabilitation’ and ‘Collaboration with the team is essential for resuming daily activities after stroke’.
Supporting goal achievement through SMS messages may increase motivation and awareness in stroke rehabilitation. The results, however, illustrate the importance of personal meetings in rehabilitation, both for setting relevant goals and for identifying goal achievement strategies.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04351178;
FreshRSS 