FACT: Prescribing one or two Take Charge sessions, in addition to usual rehabilitation, is currently the most effective way to improve important rehabilitation outcomes for people with disabling conditions like stroke.
The EVIDENCE: Three randomised trials (>600 individuals; 2 after stroke, 1 after admission for acute exacerbation of COPD) show 4-20% absolute benefit in medium term (12-month) outcomes: independence, quality of life, health status (COPD), and advanced activities of daily living. No evidence of harm.
The GUIDELINES: The Australian and New Zealand Living Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management provide a strong recommendation that ‘Self-management interventions that are directed by the stroke survivor, should be offered within the first four months of discharge into community living. The strongest evidence base exists for the ‘Take Charge After Stroke’ intervention. (Fu et al 2020)’. This recommendation is currently a draft and has been submitted to the NHMRC for approval.
The PROBLEM: Take Charge is low cost, free to use, easy to implement widely, proven effective for ethnic minority populations, proven cost-effective, training is simple. If Take Charge was a tablet, everyone would prescribe it. But because it is a ‘talking’ intervention involving no physical therapy, clinicians in some countries are reluctant to let patients benefit from this intervention. Don’t be! Try the ‘Purple Capsule Thought Experiment’ – you may be surprised.
The SOLUTION: Look at the evidence yourself under Publications or review some of the explainers (a good place to start is the WSO Webinar under Media), then download the Workbook and Training Manual that suits your situation (Downloads: stroke, COPD or generic) and language (currently 6 choices). You can either train yourself, use the ‘virtual’ facilitator training slides (Downloads/Resources) or contact us (Contacts) about arranging virtual or face-to-face training, especially for multiple people or services. Training only takes 3 hours. And spread the word – share this website, tweet, post, discuss at your local journal club, talk to friends in the media, read and share ‘Sam’s Gift’ (free pdf/epub versions from the Downloads page), which tells a story of Take Charge through the eyes of someone after stroke.
And there’s MORE: There are ongoing randomised studies (Studies) of Take Charge for people with stroke, early dementia and Long COVID. Other studies are planned. Feel free to add yours!