Creation and pilot testing of StrokEngine: a stroke rehabilitation intervention website for clinicians and families

There is a gap in the translation of knowledge about stroke between researchers and clinicians. This paper describes the creation and pilot testing of an evidence-based stroke rehabilitation intervention website, StrokEngine (http://www.strokengine.org), which was designed to close this gap.

A within-subject design was used to compare the usability and navigability of StrokEngine vs other search strategies/sites. Each participant searched a well-known stroke website, searched StrokEngine, and performed a free search, with the order of search randomized. A standard questionnaire was used to elicit information on usability and navigability across the 3 searches.

A purposive sample of 19 rehabilitation clinicians from Montreal, Quebec, with varied stroke-related treatment experience.

All 19 clinicians gave the highest usability score to StrokEngine (p<0.05): StrokEngine usability score (mean 43, SD 4) vs the Cochrane Library (mean 26, SD 8), the Royal College of Physicians website (mean 20, SD 5) and a general Internet search (mean 26, SD 7).

This preliminary study on StrokEngine's usability and navigability suggests that it has the potential to be an asset for clinicians who wish to keep abreast of information on intervention effectiveness.