- 10.00: Trial lecture
- 12.00: Public defence
You can also watch this event online (oslomet.zoom.us).
Webinar ID: 664 7882 3688.
The ordinary opponents are:
- First opponent: Professor Susanne Guidetti, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Second opponent: Associate Professor Andrew James Thomas Stevenson, Aalborg University, Denmark
- Leader of the committee: Professor Therese Brovold, OsloMet
The leader of the public defense is Head of Department Mari Klokkerud, OsloMet.
The main supervisor is Professor Minna Pikkarainen, OsloMet.
The co-supervisors are Professor Anne Catrine Trægde Martinsen, OsloMet and Professor He Hong Gu, National University of Singapore.
Thesis abstract
This PhD project explored how digital technologies can be used in home-based rehabilitation following a stroke.
The aim was to understand how stroke survivors and healthcare professionals use these technologies and how they can co-develop solutions tailored to individual needs to enhance rehabilitation at home.
What was done, and what did we find?
Effectiveness of digital solutions
The first study summarised existing research to assess the effectiveness of digital solutions.
The findings showed that home-based rehabilitation using digital tools can be as effective as training with therapists in hospitals or traditional home rehabilitation programmes.
Experiences with digital technologies
In two of the studies, we conducted interviews with stroke survivors and healthcare professionals to understand how they use and perceive digital tools. While many of the same technologies were used by both groups, there were differences in how they were applied in practice.
Stroke survivors reported that technologies such as video consultations, smartwatches, and training games helped them become more self-reliant and gave them a sense of achievement.
Healthcare professionals described how digital tools made it easier to collaborate with colleagues and organise rehabilitation.
However, they noted that the technology was more often used in interactions between healthcare professionals than directly with stroke survivors. Both groups agreed that digital solutions have the potential to promote continuous collaboration and improve support for rehabilitation.
Opportunities and challenges with VR
In the final study, virtual reality (VR) solutions were tested and co-created in workshops with stroke survivors, healthcare professionals, and technologists to identify opportunities and challenges.
VR was perceived as motivating and provided opportunities to practise daily activities such as cooking or drawing.
However, several participants found that motor and cognitive challenges made it difficult to use VR, highlighting the need for better adaptation.
Overall, these findings show that digital technologies need to be more targeted and better adapted to stroke-related impairments to be accessible to more individuals. This also requires additional training for both stroke survivors and healthcare professionals to ensure continuity in rehabilitation.
What does this mean for stroke rehabilitation?
The findings from this PhD project demonstrate that digital technologies have significant potential to improve home-based rehabilitation after stroke. Home-based rehabilitation is a key part of post-stroke care, but many people report insufficient support.
Digital technologies offer a substantial yet still underutilised potential in stroke rehabilitation. By using technology as a supplement to traditional rehabilitation, we can provide stroke survivors with better tools to train at home on their own terms. At the same time, this can ease the workload of healthcare professionals.
Users may experience a greater sense of achievement and motivation when the technology is tailored to their individual needs and routines.
The studies also show that close collaboration with both patients and healthcare professionals is crucial for technological solutions to become sustainable and effective.
This involves creating solutions that are user-friendly while also enabling better collaboration, monitoring progress, and ensuring continuity in follow-up care.
In addition, co-creation between stroke survivors, healthcare professionals, and family members can lead to the development of technologies that are meaningful and perceived as useful.
By combining technology with a person-centred approach, we can create solutions that enhance both the rehabilitation experience for patients and the working processes of healthcare professionals.
