Health Sciences stroke survey is adopted nationally
Two national evaluation projects, the Nuffield Trust and the Stroke Association, have adopted a self-management questionnaire developed by Health Sciences’ Dr Emma Boger and her team.
The Southampton Stroke Self-Management Questionnaire (SSSMQ) was developed by Emma as part of her PhD, supervised by Dr Sara Demain and Professor Sue Latter at the University of Southampton, and is a patient reported outcome measure (PROM) that measures self-management competency following stroke.
Emma will collaborate with the Nuffield Trust and the Stroke Association to help provide further evidence of the SSSMQ’s validity and will form an ongoing process of validating and re-investigating.
Dr Emma Boger sits on the project steering group for the Nuffield Trust as an evaluation advisor. She first presented her work on the SSSMQ at The Stroke Associate conference earlier in the year.
Currently there is no other available measurement to see how well stroke patients are able to self-manage.
The questionnaire has been developed from a patient perspective and is a truly patient-centred outcome measure.
Emma says: “It is satisfying to have completed a PhD that has a clinical need. I strongly believe that’s what health research should be about.
“As well as helping self-management support to be targeted towards individuals, the SSSMQ also supports healthcare services in finding out how effective they are, which is a particular challenge in the current climate, and offers cost-saving potential.”
As well as the two national organisations, the questionnaire is also used by clinical teams and community rehabilitation teams (specialist teams for stroke patients) in Winchester, Exeter and Huddersfield, who were struggling to find ways of measuring the work they are doing.
There is no cost to using the questionnaire. Health Sciences’ Professor Sue Latter has provided funding for the design and print of the questionnaire and has been particularly supportive.