Advancing Community Connections and Calculating Risk to Optimize Stroke Survivorship (ACROSS)

Northwestern University At Chicago, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

Stroke is common in the United States and continues to have a major impact on patients and families, despite past efforts to reduce its prevalence and impact. Routine post-stroke care often adds more medications, medical appointments, and rehabilitation to patients' and caregivers' already busy lives. The unexpected changes imposed by the stroke, coupled with the recommendations for more medical care, likely contribute to medication non-adherence among stroke survivors. New ideas are needed. In the words of a community advisory board member and a stroke caregiver, our new idea is to 'help you [stroke survivors and caregivers] do the best you can with what you got----what you can do right now. And if you get more, what can you do then?' The Advancing Community Connections and Calculating Risk to Optimize Stroke Survivorship (ACROSS) proposal seeks to meet stroke survivors where they are by: 1) increasing stroke survivor capacity by providing linkages to personalized resources to help them recover from their stroke; 2) decreasing stroke survivor workload by reducing the complexity of treatment by aligning medication regimens to stroke survivors' priorities. Our long-term goal is to improve stroke survivorship through community-engaged research and interventions that bridge the community and the health system. ACROSS will be conducted in partnership with communities in Flint, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois. The main objectives are to understand the lived experience of stroke survivors (Aim 1); enhance existing community resource maps to include community stroke services (Aim 2); adapt a risk reduction calculator to provide personal estimates of the effects of various secondary stroke prevention medication regimens (Aim 3); and determine the acceptability and feasibility of the simple, personalized ACROSS intervention among stroke survivors (Aim 4). Our 13-year, highly productive community-academic partnership committed to reducing the impact of stroke is the cornerstone of ACROSS. Additionally, we partnered with the Flint Public Health Youth Academy and the Chicago-MAPSCorps program, a national model for training students to work as community data scientists and advocates. Through meaningful community engagement, we will achieve clinical trial readiness, strengthen community partnerships, invest in local public health capacity, and contribute to the development of thriving communities.