Establishing a community café for stroke survivors as part of the Edinburgh Community Stroke Service.

Abstract

This project is a practical project between one student at Queen Margaret University (QMU) and the Edinburgh Community Stroke Service (ECSS), which is part of the Edinburgh Community Rehabilitation and Support Service. The ECSS provide further rehabilitation for stroke survivors after the have been discharged from hospital. ECSS approached QMU about the possibility of setting up a community café within the stroke service, with QMU providing the evidence base in order for this community café to be a success. A level four final year research project was created from this and discussions were held between QMU and ECSS. It was agreed that the student would aim to interview stroke survivors who were currently using or had previously used the service to find out their views on a potential community café. Two focus groups were set up and fifteen stroke survivors were interviewed within these. Overall, the stroke survivors had a very positive view about the community café. They thought that once they were discharged from ECSS then it would be useful to have access to peer support, professional support and the opportunity to learn new skills, to prevent isolation and to help with any problems that they may have. A literature review was also done into peer support and overall it had very positive findings. It suggested that peer support is a cost effective way of providing a service and is also beneficial to the members of these support groups. Once this project is completed, ECSS will be given feedback from the study and recommendations as to how they can continue to set up their community café.