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Enhancing Quality of Life for Individuals with Stroke (EQL) : a study protocol for co-creating a social support and context-informed intervention to improve self-management, health and well-being in older adults recovering at home

Kylén, Maya LU orcid ; Falk Johansson, Marcus LU ; McCarthy, Linnea ; Meijering, Louise ; Tomsone, Signe ; Tistad, Malin and Elf, Marie (2026) In BMJ Open 16(4).
Abstract

Introduction: Enhancing Quality of Life for Individuals with Stroke (EQL-stroke) is an international, collaborative multiphase project aiming to strengthen supported self-management for older adults recovering from stroke at home in Sweden, Latvia and the Netherlands. Existing poststroke pathways may provide insufficient support for self-management during the transition from hospital to home, and there is limited evidence on interventions that integrate social networks and everyday environmental context. Methods and analysis: EQL-stroke uses a participatory, multimethod design across three phases. Phase I generates knowledge through policy review, qualitative interviews and people–place mapping (~25 participants per country) and... (More)

Introduction: Enhancing Quality of Life for Individuals with Stroke (EQL-stroke) is an international, collaborative multiphase project aiming to strengthen supported self-management for older adults recovering from stroke at home in Sweden, Latvia and the Netherlands. Existing poststroke pathways may provide insufficient support for self-management during the transition from hospital to home, and there is limited evidence on interventions that integrate social networks and everyday environmental context. Methods and analysis: EQL-stroke uses a participatory, multimethod design across three phases. Phase I generates knowledge through policy review, qualitative interviews and people–place mapping (~25 participants per country) and includes cross-cultural adaptation of the Collective Efficacy of Networks Scale. Phase II co-designs and specifies a tailored social network-informed supported self-management intervention (the Network-Based Intervention), including core components and principles for local adaptation (~15 participants per country). Phase III will recruit approximately 20–40 stroke survivors for a single-arm pilot feasibility study with an 8-week follow-up and embedded process evaluation to assess feasibility, acceptability and fidelity in routine practice. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval has been obtained from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reg. no. 2025-00083-01), the Rīgas Stradiņa Universitāte Research Ethical Committee (reg. no. Rīgas Stradiņa Universitāte Research Ethical Committee) and the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen (reg. no. 2025-07). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, stakeholder engagement activities and patient/public channels.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Hospital to Home Transition, Implementation Science, REHABILITATION MEDICINE, Self-Management, Stroke
in
BMJ Open
volume
16
issue
4
article number
e110976
publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:42031487
  • scopus:105036905904
ISSN
2044-6055
DOI
10.1136/bmjopen-2025-110976
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
293dfa74-40ca-4b30-b849-6e59ee4b7862
date added to LUP
2026-05-27 13:03:10
date last changed
2026-07-24 00:04:57
@article{293dfa74-40ca-4b30-b849-6e59ee4b7862,
  abstract     = {{<p>Introduction: Enhancing Quality of Life for Individuals with Stroke (EQL-stroke) is an international, collaborative multiphase project aiming to strengthen supported self-management for older adults recovering from stroke at home in Sweden, Latvia and the Netherlands. Existing poststroke pathways may provide insufficient support for self-management during the transition from hospital to home, and there is limited evidence on interventions that integrate social networks and everyday environmental context. Methods and analysis: EQL-stroke uses a participatory, multimethod design across three phases. Phase I generates knowledge through policy review, qualitative interviews and people–place mapping (~25 participants per country) and includes cross-cultural adaptation of the Collective Efficacy of Networks Scale. Phase II co-designs and specifies a tailored social network-informed supported self-management intervention (the Network-Based Intervention), including core components and principles for local adaptation (~15 participants per country). Phase III will recruit approximately 20–40 stroke survivors for a single-arm pilot feasibility study with an 8-week follow-up and embedded process evaluation to assess feasibility, acceptability and fidelity in routine practice. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval has been obtained from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reg. no. 2025-00083-01), the Rīgas Stradiņa Universitāte Research Ethical Committee (reg. no. Rīgas Stradiņa Universitāte Research Ethical Committee) and the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen (reg. no. 2025-07). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, stakeholder engagement activities and patient/public channels.</p>}},
  author       = {{Kylén, Maya and Falk Johansson, Marcus and McCarthy, Linnea and Meijering, Louise and Tomsone, Signe and Tistad, Malin and Elf, Marie}},
  issn         = {{2044-6055}},
  keywords     = {{Hospital to Home Transition; Implementation Science; REHABILITATION MEDICINE; Self-Management; Stroke}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{BMJ Open}},
  title        = {{Enhancing Quality of Life for Individuals with Stroke (EQL) : a study protocol for co-creating a social support and context-informed intervention to improve self-management, health and well-being in older adults recovering at home}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2025-110976}},
  doi          = {{10.1136/bmjopen-2025-110976}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}