New research aims to shape how healthcare professionals can best work with stroke survivors as they learn to manage their own recovery and rehabilitation.
Lauren Lucas is a specialist stroke and neurological rehabilitation physiotherapist who’s been awarded an 18-month MAHSC clinical fellowship to lead the programme, which builds on the work of her recent PhD.
During this, she found a lack of research looking at the ‘therapeutic alliance’ – the working relationship between healthcare professionals and stroke survivors – and how it relates to self-management.
She also conducted interview studies with both healthcare professionals in Greater Manchester and stroke survivors, working with both individuals and community support groups.
Sense of self
Lauren said: “Stroke survivors felt that recovery was a long and complicated journey. They preferred to be treated as individuals and have healthcare professionals listen to and respect their personal goals. They also said they could feel disconnected about who they are – their sense of self – after a stroke and that made self-management harder.
“Healthcare professionals were also clear that a strong working relationship was key to helping people self-manage, although not all fully understood what self-management should look like.
“The new research will focus on survivors’ sense of self and how we as healthcare professionals can support somebody to reconnect to their sense of self as a route to self-management.”
While Lauren’s clinical career has been centred on physiotherapy, she says both healthcare professionals and stroke survivors agree psychological wellbeing is important to any therapy. During her research career she’s worked closely with people with lived experience of stroke, who have supported her work through their insights and input.
Her new fellowship will see her working with these expert patients again to gain their perspective on the embodiment approach of looking at physical health and wellbeing together.