Caregiver-mediated exercises for improving outcomes after stroke

Abstract

There is very low- to moderate-quality evidence that CME may be a valuable intervention to augment the pallet of therapeutic options for stroke rehabilitation. Included studies were small, heterogeneous, and some trials had an unclear or high risk of bias. Future high-quality research should determine whether CME interventions are (cost-)effective.

Conduct and reporting of citation searching in Cochrane systematic reviews: A cross‐sectional study

“…Other reviews in this category did not report the specific studies that were used, including three that reported backward citation searching [42][43][44] and three that reported forward citation searching. 28,29,39 Included studies were used for backward citation searching in 94 of 159 (59%) reviews and forward citation searching in eight of 15 (53%) reviews that reported the set of studies used. Included studies are by convention listed in full in a Cochrane review.…”

“…Of the 18 Cochrane reviews that reported using a citation index to conduct citation searching, 15 (83%) reported the name of the citation index(es) used. Google Scholar was reported in one review 55 ; Scopus was reported in two reviews 24,29 ; and Web of Science was reported in 13 reviews, [26][27][28][29]31,32,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40] including seven reviews [26][27][28][29]32,34,39 that reported searching the Science Citation Index (a subset of the Web of Science) in particular and one review 35 that reported searching the Core Collection (which includes the Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index) in particular.…”

Description of the CARE4STROKE programme: A caregiver‐mediated exercises intervention with e‐health support for stroke patients

“…Caregiver‐ or family‐mediated exercises (CMEs; Galvin, Cusack, O'Grady, Murphy, & Stokes, 2011; van den Berg et al, 2016; Vloothuis et al, 2015; Vloothuis et al, 2016), in which caregivers, such as partners, family members, or friends are actively involved in rehabilitation training, may be a promising and cost‐effective way to augment intensity of daily practice during inpatient stay. CME can continue after discharge to a patient's own home situation and thereby facilitate ESD.…”

“…CME can continue after discharge to a patient's own home situation and thereby facilitate ESD. A systematic review of nine trials found very low to moderate quality evidence that CME can improve standing balance, walking distance, and quality of life, without increasing caregiver burden, suggesting that CME may augment the pallet of therapeutic options for rehabilitation after stroke (Vloothuis et al, 2016). However, none of these trials included e‐health technology such as telerehabilitation services to support treatment adherence or included exercise apps to support CME.…”

“…Intensity of practice and task and context specificity are key factors of poststroke rehabilitation, because they can improve outcome in terms of mobility and activities of daily living (French et al, 2010;Galvin, Murphy, Cusack, & Stokes, 2008;Kwakkel, 2006;Kwakkel et al, 2004;Langhorne, Bernhardt, & Kwakkel, 2011;Lohse, Lang, & Boyd, 2014;Veerbeek et al, 2014;Veerbeek, Koolstra, Ket, van Wegen, & Kwakkel, 2011) and thereby facilitate early supported discharge (ESD; Fearon & Langhorne, 2012;Langhorne et al, 2011). Caregiveror family-mediated exercises (CMEs; Galvin, Cusack, O'Grady, Murphy, & Stokes, 2011;van den Berg et al, 2016;Vloothuis et al, 2015;Vloothuis et al, 2016), in which caregivers, such as partners, family members, or friends are actively involved in rehabilitation training, may be a promising and cost-effective way to augment intensity of daily practice during inpatient stay. CME can continue after discharge to a patient's own home situation and thereby facilitate ESD.…”