Abstract
INTRODUCTION: People with aphasia following stroke experience disproportionally poor outcomes, yet there is no comprehensive approach to measuring the quality of aphasia services. The Meaningful Evaluation of Aphasia SeRvicES (MEASuRES) minimum dataset was developed in partnership with people with lived experience of aphasia, clinicians and researchers to address this gap. It comprises sociodemographic characteristics, quality indicators, treatment descriptors and outcome measurement instruments. We present a protocol to pilot the MEASuRES minimum dataset in clinical practice, describe the factors that hinder or support implementation and determine meaningful thresholds of clinical change for core outcome measurement instruments. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This research aims to deliver a comprehensive quality assessment toolkit for poststroke aphasia services in four studies. A multicentre pilot study (study 1) will test the administration of the MEASuRES minimum dataset within five Australian health services. An embedded mixed-methods process evaluation (study 2) will evaluate the performance of the minimum dataset and explore its clinical applicability. A consensus study (study 3) will establish consumer-informed thresholds of meaningful change on core aphasia outcome constructs, which will then be used to establish minimal important change values for corresponding core outcome measurement instruments (study 4). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Studies 1 and 2 have been registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12623001313628). Ethics approval has been obtained from the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (HREC/2023/MNHB/95293) and The University of Queensland (2022/HE001946 and 2023/HE001175). Study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and engagement with relevant stakeholders including healthcare providers, policy-makers, stroke and rehabilitation audit and clinical quality registry custodians, consumer support organisations, and individuals with aphasia and their families.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
3-21-2024
Volume
14
Issue
3
Funding Information
Medical Research Future Fund / National Health and Medical Research Council / National Heart Foundation of Australia Future Leader fellowship / Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships
PubMed ID
38514146
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
Grant Number
NHMRC Numbers : 1175821, 1154273
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Comments
Harvey, S., Stone, M., Zingelman, S., Copland, D. A., Kilkenny, M. F., Godecke, E., . . . Wallace, S. J. (2024). Comprehensive quality assessment for aphasia rehabilitation after stroke: Protocol for a multicentre, mixed-methods study. Neurology, 14(3), article e080532. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-080532