COMmunicating in STroke cAre and Rehabilitation (COM-STAR): Improving staff communication skills for better access to and inclusion in care and rehabilitation for stroke survivors with communication impairments.

Improving patient-provider communication in stroke rehabilitation is a priority. Stroke survivors with communication impairments are more reliant on their communication partners i.e., stroke health care professionals (HCPs) to engage in their rehabilitation than survivors without impaired communication. Evidence suggests that training others’ communication skills is effective at facilitating communication and interaction. Currently there is no agreement on WHAT is most important to incorporate into communication partner training, what OUTCOMES are expected or HOW best to ensure delivery of such training in practice. The research aims to improve (1) equity of access to stroke care and rehabilitation for communication-impaired patients through upskilled staff who enable patients to participate in care and rehabilitation conversations, and (2) the quality of stroke care and rehabilitation as determined by improved staff and patient experience.
The research objectives are to:
● Identify current practice in stroke staff communication skills training in the UK including barriers and facilitators to delivering/receiving training and implementing learning
● Understand the impact of unsuccessful communication on both patient experience and staff experience
● Identify potential training programme components (behaviour change techniques; BCTs), target determinants (mechanisms of action; MoAs) and expected outcomes from the literature
● Iteratively co-design communication training content and mode of delivery, and
● Evaluate feasibility of training implementation and the impact on staff and patient communication and on their experience