University of Limerick will lead a new study aimed at creating a programme which will help people after stroke to increase their physical activity levels.
The study, the Adaptive Physical Activity Study in Stroke (TAPAS), will feature contributions from an internationally renowned, cross-disciplinary team and is seeking the support of the public.
The UL-led research team is working in partnership with members of the public who have had a stroke, and family, friends, or carers of people who have had a stroke, to develop and design the programme of research.
The team is hoping to increase the input from the public during all stages of our research by expanding our Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) group.
Principal Investigator of the TAPAS project, Dr Sara Hayes, a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy in the School of Allied Health, University of Limerick, and a physiotherapist with over 15 years’ experience, said: “Setting up a PPI group means the opinions and perspectives of the patient and public influence all stages of the research.
“PPI group members are seen as co-researchers, who can help us to ensure we carry out research that will be meaningful to the lives of people living with stroke. Public participation will ensure the perspectives of people living with stroke are included in all stages of the research we conduct - from developing the programme, delivering it to people with stroke, measuring its benefits and publicising it,” she added.
What is involved?
• Being a member of the group will involve attending online, over the phone, or in-person meetings with members of the research team
• The group will help the team throughout the study by providing feedback on how they design their research plans, how they measure whether the programme designed is working well for people with stroke, and how they choose to publish the results of the research in order to reach a wide audience of patients, the public, academics, clinicians and policy makers
• There will be around 4-5 meetings a year, and there is no commitment to attend every meeting
Despite recent advances in acute stroke intervention, strategies to prevent recurrent stroke are lacking. This is of urgent importance for people with stroke who are at risk of having another stroke. Physical activity is the second-largest predictor of stroke and the cornerstone of secondary prevention therapies.
“Interventions that are tailored to individual response are recommended, however, there is no reliable information on the best way of developing such interventions. This identifies a clear direction for future research,” Dr Hayes explained.
The internationally renowned, cross-disciplinary team will make a substantial contribution to stroke recovery research by focus on designing a first-in-class adaptive physical activity intervention to be delivered using a smartphone application, permitting the delivery of optimal sequences of treatments to increase PA for individuals.
TAPAS is a three-year, Health Research Board-funded project, with an impressive team across medicine, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, health economics, health psychology, statistics, experts in trial methodology, public and patient partners. The international team are based in University of Limerick, University Hospital Limerick, University of Galway, University of Melbourne, University of Edinburgh, and the Irish Heart Foundation.
If you have direct experience of living with stroke, caring for someone with stroke or being a friend or family member of someone with stroke and are willing to speak in a small group to share your opinions, please contact Dr Sara Hayes at sara.hayes@ul.ie or Dr Aoife Whiston at aoife.whiston@ul.ie for more information.