News and events

Stepping Out press release: Scheme empowers stroke survivors to take rehabilitation in their stride

At the end of July 2008 a Stepping Out press release was circulated throughout the UK.

The press release described how the Stepping Out programme puts patients in the driving seat when it comes to drawing up a rehabilitation plan, allowing them to take charge of their progress as they adapt to living with a long-term condition. “Stroke is a complex and traumatic event that affects each patient to a different degree and a one-size recovery plan does not fit all. One of the key elements in the recovery of stroke survivors lies in involving them in their own rehabilitation,” Dr Jones said. “Stepping Out is not just about helping people reach physical milestones – it’s about helping them regain a feeling of control over their lives. Doing the things so many of us take for granted, such as meeting friends more regularly, taking up a hobby or reading a newspaper can give them a tremendous sense of accomplishment.”

 Also shown in the press release was how the Stepping Out programme links in with the Department of Health’s National Stroke Strategy. The National Stroke Strategy aims to ensure patients and their carers are more fully involved in making decisions about treatment and in designing support services. It also specifies that more needs to be done to support survivors developing self-management skills to reduce ongoing care costs.

The press release resulted in a number of exciting outcomes including an interview on local radio and news stories on the Nursing in Practice and Management in Practice websites. In addition, Dr Fiona Jones has been asked to write an editorial piece for the International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation. It is hoped that through this coverage and continued positive feedback from healthcare professionals, carers and stroke survivors, Stepping Out can continue to develop and enable stroke survivors to take control of their daily lives.

http://www.kingston.ac.uk/pressoffice/latestnews/2008/july/Scheme-empowers-stroke-survivors-to-take-rehabilitation-in-their-stride/index.php

Stepping Out launched in the UK

The Stepping Out Programme has been rolled out across the UK throughout 2008. This follows three successful pilot studies and a consultation day with advisor's from Connect to complete the final version of the stroke workbook.

The first Stepping Out Team Workshop was delivered to a group of nurses in Dundee in April. The feedback from the team has been positive, with stroke survivors quoting they wish they had been introduced to the workbook a year ago. The team have ordered extra workbooks that can be used to promote self-management skills with more stroke survivors in Scotland.

The first London based Team Workshop was held at Imperial Academic Healthcare Trust in July and was attended by professionals from various disciplines. Many attendees felt that Stepping Out training would enhance their practice by giving more control to the patient and enabling them to move away from the ingrained professional/patient relationship. They felt that by reducing therapist dependency, discharge into the community would be easier for stroke survivors. Further team workshops in London and Wales have been planned for later in the year and 2009.

To accommodate professionals who are unable to host their own team workshop, we are currently taking bookings for the first Stepping Out Open Workshop. This is being held on 8^th October 2008 at St Georges,University of London. For more information on this Open Workshop and to book a place use the following link:

http://www.steppingoutuk.org.uk/training_programme.php

The Stepping Out team will continue to involve stroke survivors in the programme and use feedback from workshops to aid future development and enhance workshop delivery. 

New workbook: final version completed

We asked communication advisors from Connect (the national UK charity for people with communication disabilities) to consider our new stroke workbook. Following this we attended a consultation day at Connect held in February this year, and discussed the content, layout and design of the workbook with 10 people with aphasia and communication facilitators.

Some important modifications to the layout and content of the workbook were suggested and this work has now been completed. We hope that these changes will make the workbook much more accessible for people with aphasia, and easier to follow.

We are delighted that the final version is now completed, and the first Stepping Out workshop using the new stroke workbook will be held in Dundee the end of April.

http://www.ukconnect.org/news_1_355.aspx

Stepping Out collaboration with Emory University

Asst Professor Sarah Blanton, Emory University Atlanta, Georgia, US., recently came to the UK on a 10 day visit to learn about Stepping Out.

Sarah was a principal researcher and clinician on the EXCITE trial which tested CI Therapy for upper limb function after stroke. She has recently been made Honorary Research Fellow at St George’s University of London, and has a keen interest in supporting stroke survivors to self-manage. She is currently involved in a large multi-centred trial for arm rehabilitation (Interdisciplinary Comprehensive Arm Rehabilitation- ICARE), which has a specific focus on enhancing self-efficacy and capacity to self-manage.

Sarah also has a particular interest in how we can enhance care-givers confidence to support their friend/relative through rehabilitation and beyond. We hope this visit was the start of a long and successful collaboration between the two institutions. Sarah sent us a quote on her return home.

"Through my opportunity to visit London and work closely with Dr. Fiona Jones, I have developed a much greater appreciation for the concepts of self-efficacy and self management as they are addressed through the Stepping Out program.  Certainly, the key ingredient in rehabilitation is the therapeutic relationship between stroke survivor, family and therapist.  No matter how advanced our technology becomes in stroke rehabilitation, we will be destined to fall short of our hopes of recovery without acknowledging the essential nature of the therapeutic relationship as it relates to facilitation of individual self-efficacy and self-management.  Stepping Out is another milestone in our journey towards a greater understanding of the complex nature of rehabilitation after illness."

Dr Sarah Blanton, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

Link to Sarah’s website

http://www.excite.wustl.edu

Stepping Out at the UK Stroke Forum December 2007

The Stepping Out team had a successful stand at the ideas fair at the 2nd UK Stroke Forum held last December 07 in Harrogate. We presented our work by distributing copies of our recent newsletter, Stride 3, and unveiled our ‘new look’ Stepping Out workbook. The comments and suggestions made by all those who visited us were very positive. We plan to hold one more focus group with communication advisors from Connect early next year after which we hope to have our final workbook ready for print.

Many of you that visited the stand gave us your contact details, in order to keep up to date with the progress towards our final launch in 2008. We will ready to hold Stepping Out workshops as soon as the final workbook is completed and expect to start from early March 08. We are really pleased with how the project is progressing, and will shortly be publishing dates of open Stepping Out workshops to be held in London during 08, and of course more details of what the full costs and package will include.

Thanks to all of you that have expressed an interest in Stepping Out, please contact us via the website or by email stepout@hscs.sgul.ac.uk if you have any comments or suggestions.

Kind Regards
Fiona Jones

http://www.steppingoutuk.org.uk/uk_stroke_forum_2007_gallery.php