JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Stroke has been the second leading cause of death and third-leading of disability globally for the past three decades. The emerging technological innovations for stroke care were predominantly designed and developed by digital technology experts as stand-alone products with very minimal efforts to explore their feasibility, acceptability, and more importantly scalability. Hence, a digital therapeutic rehabilitation Innovation for people with stroke-related disabilities in India was systematically developed and is being evaluated. ReWin is an innovation that is technologically driven envisioning digital therapeutics as a medium for the provision of rehabilitation to persons with disabilities. It is conceptualized and developed based on the international classification of functioning disability and health. ReWin encompasses specific technological aspects to enable its scientific framework and conceptualization to suit the context and needs of the stroke care providers and consumers. The framework is built with two separate applications, one for the providers and one for the patients and caregivers. Each of these applications has the specific inbuilt design to add data about demographic details of the user, stroke severity using the National Institute of Health (NIH) stroke scale, and self-assessment of disability measured by the modified Barthel Index. Users can communicate with each other and decide on their therapeutic goals, therapy training information, and progress remotely from where they are. The ultimate outcome expected from the ReWin innovation is a continuum of care for stroke survivors that is effective, safe, and of good quality. Systematic development cannot make the intervention scalable. The intervention needs to be evaluated for its feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness. Currently, ReWin is evaluated for its feasibility and acceptability. This research will provide an opportunity to develop a scalable solution for empowering therapists and persons with disabilities, in general, to objectively self-manage their treatment. Findings from this study will also provide valuable information about the resources required to deliver such interventions in resource-constrained settings like India.