The impact of stroke on employment income: A cohort study using hospital and income tax data in Ontario, Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To document the impact of stroke on employment income among people employed at the time of stroke. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: People hospitalized for stroke in Ontario, Canada (2010-2014) and people without stroke matched on demographic characteristics. MAIN MEASURES: Robust Poisson regression to estimate the effects of stroke on the probability of reporting employment income on tax returns over 3 years. Quantile regression difference-in-differences to estimate the changes in annual employment income attributable to stroke. RESULTS: Stroke survivors were increasingly less likely to report any employment income poststroke, incidence rate ratios (IRR) 0.87 at 1 year (95% confidence intervals [CI]; 0.85-0.88), 0.82 at 2 years (95% CI; 0.81-0.84) and 0.81 at 3 years (95% CI; 0.79-0.82). IRR for reporting at least 50% of prestroke income levels were 0.76 at 1 year (95% CI; 0.75-0.78), 0.75 at 2 years (95% CI; 0.73-0.77) and 0.73 at 3 years (95% CI; 0.71-0.75). IRR for reporting at least 90% of prestroke income levels were 0.72 at 1 year (95% CI; 0.70-0.74), 0.66 at 2 years (95% CI; 0.64-0.68) and again 0.66 at 3 years (95% CI; 0.64-0.68). Relative changes in annual employment income attributable to stroke varied from a decrease of 13.8% (95% CI; 8.7-18.9) at the 75th income percentile to a decrease of 43.1% (95% CI; 18.7-67.6) at the 25th income percentile. CONCLUSIONS: It is important for healthcare and service providers to recognize the impact of stroke on return to prestroke levels of employment income. Low-income stroke survivors experience a more drastic loss in employment income and may need additional social support.

Supporting post-stroke access to services and resources for individuals with low income: understanding usual care practices in acute care and rehabilitation settings.

PURPOSE: Following stroke, individuals who live in a low-income or are at risk of living in a low-income situation face challenges with timely access to social services and community resources. Understanding the usual care practices of stroke teams, specifically, how they support this access to services and resources, is an important first step in promoting the implementation of practice change. METHOD: A qualitative multiple-case study of acute care, inpatient, and outpatient rehabilitation stroke teams in an urban area of Canada. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires about the workplace context were conducted with 19 professionals (social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech-language pathologists) at four sites. RESULTS: In their usual practice, stroke teams prioritized immediate care needs. The stroke team professionals did not address income or resources unless it directly affected discharge. Usual care was influenced by factors such as time constraints, lack of knowledge about services and resources, and social service system limitations. CONCLUSION: To better support post-stroke access to social services and resource for low-income individuals, a multidisciplinary approach, with actions beginning earlier on and extending throughout the continuum of care, is recommended, in addition to system-level advocacy.

Access to social services and community resources for people with stroke and living in a low-income situation is not consistently addressed in acute care or rehabilitation settings.Supporting access to social services and community resources is influenced by the professionals' availability of time and resources, as well as knowledge about services and resources and the limitations of the social service system.Using a multidisciplinary approach, extending over the continuum of care from acute care to rehabilitation program may be a way forward to better support people with stroke and low income to access services and resources.

Traduction franco-canadienne de l'Assessment of Systematic Reviews Revised (AMSTAR 2) : validation transculturelle et fidélité interjuges.

Objective: Produce a French-Canadian translation of AMSTAR 2, affirm its content validity, and examine interrater reliability. Methods: Based on Vallerand's methodological approach, we conducted forward and parallel inverse-translations. Subsequently, an expert panel evaluated the translations to create a preliminary experimental French-Canadian version. A second expert panel examined this version and proposed additional modifications. Twenty future health professionals then rated the second experimental version for ambiguity on a scale (from 1 to 7). The principal co-investigators then reviewed the problematic elements and proposed a pre-official version. To ascertain content validity, a final back-translation was conducted resulting in the official version. Four judges evaluated 13 systematic reviews using the official French-Canadian version of AMSTAR 2. The Kappa coefficient was used to evaluate interrater reliability. Results: This rigorous adaptation enabled the development of a Franco-Canadian version of AMSTAR 2. Its application demonstrated low ambiguity (mean 1.15; SD 0.26) as well as good overall interrater reliability (total κ > 0.64) across all items. Conclusion: The French-Canadian version of AMSTAR 2 can now support francophone clinicians, educators, and managers in Canada as they undertake evidence-based practice.

A systematic review of social service and community resource interventions following stroke.

PURPOSE: Finding and accessing social services and community resources are a challenge for stroke survivors and care partners. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify and review interventions that aimed to increase access and use of such services and resources post stroke. METHOD: A systematic review of the published literature was performed using MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health (January 2008 to May 2020). Studies were included if they were quantitative designs and reported on outcomes of interventions addressing post-stroke access to social services or community resources. Results were synthesised narratively. RESULTS: 3566 titles and abstracts were reviewed. Ten articles met the inclusion criteria. The interventions included in this review varied in terms of target group, timing, and type of support provided (passive or active tailored information provision, referral service, navigation assistance). Outcome measures, for social service and community resource access, included discharge preparedness measures, service counts, observations, satisfaction evaluations, interviews, and open-ended questions. CONCLUSION: Overall, interventions demonstrated some improvements in information received and access to social services and community resources following stroke. Future research should focus on carrying out high quality studies that examine the effectiveness of various social service and community resource interventions, and on setting valid and reliable outcome measures.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONStroke survivors and care partners have unmet social service and community resource needs.Stroke survivors and care partners can benefit from interventions that provide information, referrals, and ongoing support to access services and resources.Clearly identifying social service and community resource needs is important for tailoring interventions to individual situations.Interventions should ideally be provided throughout the hospital stay, in acute care and rehabilitation, and continue on in the community.

Participation-focused interventions for stroke rehabilitation: a scoping review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this scoping review are to i) identify adaptive stroke rehabilitation interventions using metacognitive or self-management approaches targeting participation as an outcome; ii) determine the explicit and implicit theories underlying these interventions; and iii) ascertain the elements in each intervention. This review will develop a catalogue of these interventions, improving the understanding of how these interventions work, thereby facilitating efficient development and testing of participation-focused interventions. INTRODUCTION: Stroke rehabilitation interventions can be categorized as those aiming to correct impairment and those seeking participation improvement despite impairment. Impairment-focused interventions include a relatively small number of well-defined elements, generally based on motor learning or other types of learning theory. Participation-focused interventions span a large group of diverse interventions. The underlying theory is typically varied and often implicit, but many of these interventions are based on metacognitive or self-management approaches. An examination of the underlying theory and elements of participation-focused interventions would allow researchers to more effectively advance the science of these approaches. INCLUSION CRITERIA: The review will include published papers describing rehabilitation interventions using metacognitive or self-management approaches to improve participation among adults who have experienced a stroke. METHODS: The search will include JBI Evidence-Based Practice Database, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, OTSeeker, and PEDro databases. Studies will be selected according to a three-step process, including i) managing search results and removing duplicates, ii) title and abstract screening, and iii) full text screening. The extracted data will be presented in table form and narrative summary, aligning with the objectives and scope of this review.

Intention to Return to Work after Stroke Following Rehabilitation in Ontario.

BACKGROUND.: Returning to work is important for many people following stroke. An estimate of the prevalence of people intending to return to work post-stroke would be helpful in planning services supporting work reintegration. PURPOSE.: This study examined the prevalence of intention to return to work after discharge among stroke rehabilitation inpatients. METHODS.: We performed secondary analysis of National Rehabilitation Reporting System data for all stroke rehabilitation inpatients across Ontario (2012-2017). Intention to return to work was examined by gender, age, and level of disability. FINDINGS.: Among 25,691 stroke rehabilitation inpatients, 4,668 (18.2%) were employed pre-stroke and 2,039 (43.7%) of them intended to return to work. Intention to return to work was somewhat higher among younger and middle-aged stroke survivors and those with mild disability. IMPLICATIONS.: Providers and planners should be aware that almost half of previously employed stroke-rehabilitation inpatients may be seeking services to assist with return to work.

Operational Definitions and Estimates of Return to Work Poststroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine operational definitions of return to work (RTW) poststroke and provide more precise estimates of RTW through meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: A systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and SCOPUS (2005 to March 26, 2018). The search strategy involved expansion of medical subjective headings using terms related to stroke and work. The reference lists of review articles and included studies were checked for additional relevant studies. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were included if they (1) quantitatively analyzed RTW outcomes or factors associated with RTW; (2) reported RTW outcomes for participants employed prior to stroke; and (3) were written in English or French. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts. Of 7265 articles initially identified, 55 studies were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Data were extracted and study quality was assessed by 1 reviewer and verified by a second reviewer. DATA SYNTHESIS: Explicit and implicit operational definitions of RTW were determined and categorized. Ranges of RTW estimates were presented for study and participant characteristics. Pooled summary estimates were calculated for comparable studies by follow-up time poststroke: 55.7% at 1 year (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 51.3%-60.0%) and 67.4% at 2 years (95% CI, 60.4%-74.4%). Similar summary estimates were noted when only population-based studies were considered: 56.7% at 1 year (95% CI, 48.3%-65.1%) and 66.7% at 2 years (95% CI, 60.2%-73.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Operational definitions varied across studies and were often not explicitly reported. To promote comparability of RTW outcomes in future studies, we recommend working toward a universal operational definition and consistent follow-up times. The more precise estimates calculated in this review could be used as benchmarks for health care and social service providers.

La version franco-canadienne de l'outil « OA Go Away ¼ : Au revoir Arthrose | Comité d'experts pour la rédaction de la première version expérimentale de l'outil « OA Go Away ¼ | Comité d'experts pour l'évaluation de la deuxième version expérimentale de l'outil « OA Go Away ¼.

Purpose: the purpose of the article is to produce a French-Canadian translation of the "OA Go Away" tool and to assess the validity of its contents as well as its test-retest reliability. "OA Go Away" is a customized tool that measures the various symptoms, their impact, and the physical activities of people with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee to improve self-care and help them be physically active. Method: Vallerand's cross-cultural validation methodology was used. First, professional translators and rehabilitation professionals produced a parallel reverse translation of the "OA Go Away" tool. Then, a committee of experts examined the translated versions and created a first experimental draft of the "Au revoir arthrose" tool. This draft was assessed and modified by a second committee of experts. Three users with osteoarthritis of the knee then assessed this version. Finally, a linguist examined the draft and an expert produced a final reverse translation of that version. The main co-researchers proposed final modifications of that version. Results: Twenty-one users indicated that the wording of the final "Au revoir arthrose" version was clear. The test-retest reliability was acceptable for the main elements of the "Au revoir arthrose" journal. Conclusions: The process's five rigorous steps enabled the creation of a valid French-Canadian version of the "Au revoir arthrose" tool. On average, the French-Canadian version of the "Au revoir arthrose" tool has moderate test-retest reliability for all of its elements. This tool can prove to be relevant for people suffering from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, motivating them to be physically active, and for the health professionals who care for them.