Background

Stroke is currently increasing in low-income countries and stroke rehabilitation is therefore an important subject. Information and communication technology potentially can improve stroke rehabilitation, yet mostly now studied in high-income countries. Together with the increasing usage of mobile phones in the Sub-Saharan region, studies to see potential effects of communication technology intervention in low-income countries, but also to lay the foundation for future studies regarding information and communication technology and stroke rehabilitation, are important. Further on, research is lacking concerning health professional’s experience regarding intervention of telerehabilitation.

Aim

The aim of this study is to explore health professional's experiences of a mobile phone- supported and family-centred rehabilitation after stroke in Uganda. An additional aim is to describe how to further develop and optimise future interventions of e-health in stroke rehabilitation, seen from the health professional’s point of view.

Method

A qualitative method was used with nine semi-structured interviews with health professional’s participating in the mobile phone-supported intervention, F@ce 2.0. The data was analysed using a qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach.

Results

The findings based on the interviews revealed several advances and challenges with the intervention. Four categories emerged from the interview analysis including: 1. Key components of the intervention, 2. Barriers of the intervention, 3. Facilitation of the intervention, 4. Improving the model and enabling sustainability.

Conclusions

As a conclusion, according to the interviewed health professionals, the intervention has overall been delivered according to the predetermined design. Moreover, this study highlights several mediators and barriers that influenced the intervention. It gives an insight on how similar intervention could be improved in the future and encourages further studies to be conducted in the same research field.