Awareness and Use of Stroke Rehabilitation Interventions in Clinical Practice Among Physiotherapists

But you didn't ask the patients of these therapists how well they recovered using the interventions of their therapists. So you're not even measuring the quality of your work! I'd have you all fired!

Awareness and Use of Stroke Rehabilitation Interventions in Clinical Practice Among Physiotherapists

Amanda McIntyre, PhD, RNRelated information

From the: *From the: Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
†Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
Correspondence to: Amanda McIntyre, Room 3332, FIMS Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada; amcint7@uwo.ca.

; Marcus Saikaley, BScRelated information

‡Parkwood Institute Research, Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, Canada

; Shannon Janzen, MScRelated information

‡Parkwood Institute Research, Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, Canada

; Peiwen Cao, MScRelated information

‡Parkwood Institute Research, Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, Canada

; Deena Lala, PhD, MPTRelated information

§St. Joseph's Health Care, London, Ontario, Canada

; Robert Teasell, MD, FRCPCRelated information

‡Parkwood Institute Research, Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
§St. Joseph's Health Care, London, Ontario, Canada
¶Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

; Ricardo Viana, MD, FRCPCRelated information

‡Parkwood Institute Research, Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
§St. Joseph's Health Care, London, Ontario, Canada
¶Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

Correspondence to: Amanda McIntyre, Room 3332, FIMS Building, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada; amcint7@uwo.ca.

Contributors: All authors designed the study; or collected, analyzed, or interpreted the data; and drafted or critically revised the article and approved the final draft.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

This advance access version may differ slightly from the final published version.

https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2022-0095

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Purpose:

This study collected data about the current awareness and use of stroke rehabilitation interventions among a Canadian sample of PTs as a foundational step towards future endeavours to inform the translation of rehabilitation research literature into practice.

Method:

Participants were recruited from health care centres providing stroke rehabilitation to patients in each of the 10 provinces across Canada. Physiotherapists who provided direct rehabilitative care to individuals after a stroke, were 18+ years old, and could read and write in English completed an electronic survey. Questions asked about therapists’ work setting, patient demographics, how they stay up-to-date, and their awareness and use of stroke rehabilitation interventions.

Results:

One hundred seventy five individuals (female = 82.9%) mainly from Ontario and Alberta (57.7%) were included. Therapists had high awareness and use of non-technological, peripherally-applied interventions (e.g., task-specific training, trunk training, overground walking). Except for mirror therapy and bilateral arm training, therapists had low or no awareness and use of brain priming interventions with or without a technological component.

Conclusions:

Therapists had low awareness and use of interventions which fall outside of standard education and training. This is an important area for future research on initiatives to increase knowledge translation and implementation into clinical practice.