Longer-Term Support for Survivors of Stroke and Their Carers

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the longer‐term needs and support for people with stroke and their carers, as well as potential interventions to meet these needs and improve well‐being. To respond to the longer‐term needs of survivors and carers, healthcare professionals should: understand the experience of living with stroke from a survivor and carer perspective; identify difficulties associated with self‐management or caring in the longer‐term; and be aware of the merits of different interventions for providing support to survivors and carers. It is therefore important that information and support interventions start as early as possible post‐stroke, to assist in the transition from hospital to home and prepare survivors and carers for their new circumstances and roles. A systematic review of the social consequences of stroke in working‐age people identified factors enabling return‐to‐work, including: vocational rehabilitation; flexibility and support in the workplace; social benefits; and family support.