Article

Although physical activity and exercise for stroke patients is highly
recommended for fast recovery, patients in hospitals and rehabilitation centres
are insufficiently encouraged to be physically active.
In this study, we
investigated the impact of knowledge brokers (KBs), enterprising nurses and
therapists, on health professionals' (HP) performance to encourage stroke
inpatients to be physically active. METHOD: This multicenter intervention study
used a pre-post test design.
Two or three KBs were trained in each stroke unit of
12 hospitals and 10 rehabilitation centres in The Netherlands. Questionnaires
were completed by patients and HPs before and after the KB-intervention. The
primary outcome was encouragement given by HPs to their patients to be physically
active, as reported by patients and HPs. RESULTS: After the KB-intervention, many
more patients (48%; N=217) reported at least some encouragement by HPs to be
physically active than before (26%; N=243, p<0.000). HPs (N=288) on an average
reported encouraging patients more often after the intervention, but this
difference was significant only for occupational therapists and KBs. CONCLUSIONS:
Based on patient's reports of HP behaviour, the KB-intervention appears effective
since more patients felt encouraged to be physically active after the
intervention compared to before. Replication of this study in an experimental
design is needed to allow causal inferences. Implications for rehabilitation We
advise rehabilitation teams to make use of knowledge brokers (KBs), since the
KB-intervention was shown to increase the encouragement felt by stroke patients
to be physically active. It seems worthwhile to involve physicians, nurses and
patients' families more frequently in efforts to encourage stroke patients to be physically active.

Langue : ANGLAIS