The Unmet Needs of Stroke Survivors and Stroke Caregivers: A Systematic Narrative Review

• Published in: Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases 2020-08, Vol.29 (8), p.104875-104875, Article 104875
• Main Authors: Zawawi, N.S.M., Aziz, N.A., Fisher, R., Ahmad, K., Walker, M.F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Long-term stroke care; Stroke; Stroke caregivers; Stroke survivors; Unmet needs
• ISSN: 1052-3057; 1532-8511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2020.104875

•Stroke survivors and stroke caregivers have different types of unmet needs.•The unmet needs are beyond medical and rehabilitation aspects.•The associated factors of unmet needs between the two groups are also different.•A local tool is necessary to capture these unmet needs.•Identification of unmet needs may facilitate improvement in stroke care. Facilitating stroke survivors and their caregivers to lead a fulfilling life after stroke requires service providers to think about their different needs. Poor post stroke care may lead to unmet needs in stroke survivors and stroke caregivers. This may compromise them in leading their lives optimally after stroke. This systematic narrative review examines articles published from 1990 to 2017, generated from Ovid, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PubMed. The search was also supplemented by an examination of reference lists for related articles via Scopus. We included 105 articles. We found that the type of unmet needs in stroke survivors and the contributing factors were substantially different from their caregivers. The unmet needs in stroke survivors ranged from health-related needs to re-integration into the community; while the unmet needs in stroke caregivers ranged from information needs to support in caring for the stroke survivors and caring for themselves. Additionally, the unmet needs in both groups were associated with different factors. More research is required to understand the unmet needs of stroke survivors and stroke caregivers to improve the overall post-stroke care services.