Poster The Joint Annual Meeting of the Stroke Society of Australasia (SSA) and Smartstrokes 2023

Working Together with a Rural and Remote Stroke Survivor to Develop a Technology-facilitated Recovery Program (#120)

Sarah Jackson 1 2 , Lucy Byrnes 3 , Shaun Solomon 2 , Bridee Neibling 1 , Louise Brown 1 , Ian Atkinson 4 , Ruth Barker 5
  1. College of Healthcare Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
  2. Murtupuni Centre for Rural and Remote Health, James Cook University, Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia
  3. Stroke Survivor Co-researcher, , Australia
  4. eResearch Centre, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
  5. College of Healthcare Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Background: The lived expertise of rural and remote stroke survivors is unique and must be considered when designing services for their use. Technological tools are often recommended to improve provision of services for rural and remote stroke survivors, but their use has rarely been explored from the stroke survivors’ perspective.

Aim: To describe the process of working with a rural and remote stroke survivor to develop a technology-facilitated recovery program.

Methods: A pragmatic approach including principles of co-design was used to develop the program. As two researchers, a therapist-researcher and a stroke survivor psychologist-researcher worked alongside each other in a collegial, flexible and evolving way. The therapist-researcher: investigated the perspective of stroke survivors on recovering in rural and remote locations, via interviews and a literature review; reviewed the literature on persevering with technology-facilitated practice; and created and piloted a program with five stroke survivors, supported by an expert panel. The stroke survivor-psychologist researcher: participated in interviews and member checking with the therapist-researcher; ‘walked through’ the program with the therapist-researcher as the first participant; and contributed as an expert panellist. Both researchers reflected on their experiences with the program, and of working together.

Results: The ‘Living My Life Program’ that developed focused on stroke survivors recovering their way, in their world, according to what mattered to them. By incorporating the lived expertise of the stroke survivor-psychologist researcher, the program stayed true to the rural and remote stroke survivors’ perspective and retained the flexibility to adapt to what mattered to each participant without disrupting their lives. Both researchers gained professionally and personally from the experience.

Conclusion: Working together with a rural and remote stroke survivor ensured an authentically person-centred, technology-facilitated program for use by rural and remote stroke survivors to drive their recovery.