xpected health benefits of information from Stroke Engine, a knowledge translation stroke rehabilitation website: A web-based survey. (Preprint)

Abstract

Stroke Engine is an evidence-based knowledge translation resource in stroke rehabilitation (assessments and interventions) for health professionals, students, individuals having sustained a stroke and their relatives. According to Google analytics, the website is perused over 10 000 times/week.

With the overall aim to improve its content, we documented perceived 1) Situational relevance, 2) Cognitive impact 3) Intention-to-use and 4) Expected patient/health benefits from Stroke Engine users on information consulted.

A web-based survey anchored in the Information Assessment Method (IAM) was posted as an invitation tab. The IAM is a validated questionnaire designed to assess the value of information. Sociodemographic characteristics were also collected and a space for free text comments was provided. Descriptive statistics were used and thematic analysis for free text comments.

Sample consisted of 6634 respondents. Health professionals (n=3663) and students (n=2784) represented 97.2% of total responses. The other 2.8% of responses were from individuals having sustained a stroke (n=87) and their relatives (n=100). 1) Situational relevance: Assessments (including selecting, obtaining and interpreting results from a test) was the main topic searched by health professionals (54.6%) and students (50.4%) whereas general information on stroke rehabilitation was the number one topic for nearly two-thirds of individuals with stroke (59.2%) and their relatives (62.6%). 2) Cognitive impact was characterized by learning something new. 3) Intention-to-use was high (>70%) among respondents and varied in context (e.g., refine a topic, research, class assignments, teaching and education). Respondents commented on ways to improve content. 4) Expected patient/health benefits such as improvement in health and well-being was the top ranked category for all four subgroups, followed by an avoidance of unnecessary/inappropriate treatment for health professionals (29.4%) and feeling of being reassured for individuals with stroke (29.9%) and for relatives (54%).

Valuable feedback on Stroke Engine was obtained in terms of its accessibility, relevance for informational needs and retrieval, accuracy and applicability; however of utmost importance is potential implementation of its evidence-based content in clinical practice and perceived expected impact for patients and their health professionals.