StrokeDASHNCT07590076
Volunteer Facilitated Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH) for People With Stroke
A study testing Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH) in people with Stroke and Stroke Rehabilitation, run by Bruyère Health Research Institute. at 6 sites in Canada.
Trial summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a home visit by a trained volunteer can improve stroke recovery after a stroke survivor is discharged home from the hospital. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Any age
- Conditions the study is for
- Stroke, Stroke Rehabilitation, Transitional Care
- What is being tested?
- Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH)
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 840 participants
- Where
- 6 sitesCanada
- Study dates
- Jun 2026to Apr 2028
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages Any age
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Confirmed diagnosis of stroke
- Either undergoing or recently completed in-patient rehabilitation within the last 3 weeks
- Lived at home pre-stroke
- Discharged directly home (to own residence or that of a family member)
- Live in one of the program implementation areas (i.e., Toronto, Ottawa)
Who cannot join
- Discharged to additional hospital inpatient care, nursing home, or other long-term care
- Inability to communicate in English
- Inability to provide informed consent due to cognitive deficits
Trial locations and contacts
6 sites in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Research Coordinator contact
6 sites in 1 country
Canada6 sites
Bruyère Health Élisabeth-Bruyère Hospital
Ottawa, Ontario
Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital
Toronto, Ontario
Providence Healthcare (Unity Health Toronto)
Toronto, Ontario
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (UHN)
Toronto, Ontario
West Park Healthcare Centre (UHN)
Toronto, Ontario
About this study
Official title: Volunteer Facilitated Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH) for People With Stroke: An Effectiveness-implementation Hybrid Trial.
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a home visit by a trained volunteer can improve stroke recovery after a stroke survivor is discharged home from the hospital. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- After 3 months of being discharged from the hospital, does this additional volunteer support at home improve coping skills for stroke survivors?
- Does the effects of the volunteer support last over 3 to 6 months after being discharged home?
Read more
Researchers will compare between a group who will receive the volunteer support and a group who will not to see if the additional support can improve stroke recovery.
Participants will:
- Either receive volunteer support over an 8-week time period OR receive no additional volunteer support
- Continue with their usual care plan and receive educational resources from the research team during the study
- Complete online surveys during study enrollment, at 3 months, and at 6 months after hospital discharge
Read the detailed description
Acute stroke often leads to adult disability in Canada, and about 108,707 Canadians experience a stroke each year. While most people survive stroke (80 percent) and return home, some survivors are left with ongoing challenges that require them to seek help in the community. These challenges can lead to stress for the individual and their caregiver. Research on volunteer-supported home-to-hospital programs has shown positive outcomes. However, despite the growing evidence that supports volunteer engagement in care transitions, we have yet to determine the impact of a complex psychosocial volunteer-delivered care transition intervention for stroke survivors. This study will assess whether a volunteer-delivered transitional care intervention, designed by Bruyère Health Research Institute in partnership with March of Dimes Canada (MODC), for adults discharged home from a stroke rehabilitation unit following an acute stroke can improve coping compared to usual care. MODC will implement the volunteer-support transition program across two Ontario regions for stroke rehabilitation sites. Those allocated to the intervention group will receive an initial visit from the Volunteer Coordinator and then weekly one-on-one visits by a trained volunteer for eight weeks. The volunteer may assist the study participant with instrumental daily living activities and psychosocial and informational support. Those not receiving the intervention will receive educational material at 4- and 8-week time points in addition to their usual care. All study participants will complete validated patient-reported outcome measures at 3- and 6-months post-hospital discharge.
- Conditions
- Stroke, Stroke Rehabilitation, Transitional Care
- Being tested
- Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH)
- Keywords
- Patient Oriented Research, Community-Based Services, Intersectoral Partnership, Volunteers, Stroke rehabilitation, Transitional care
- Medical subject headings
- Stroke
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH)Behavioural
One-on-one weekly visits in the stroke survivor participants' residence by a trained volunteer for approximately 8 weeks (about 2 months). Volunteer support could span three types:
- instrumental activities of daily living assistance (e.g., assistance with meal preparation, light house duties, and transportation), ii) psychosocial support (e.g., befriending visits), and iii) informational supports (signposting to other community services).
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Group A: DASH group | Experimental | Participants will receive the DASH intervention + Usual Care + Educational Resources Receives: Behavioral: Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH) |
| Group B: Usual care group | No intervention | Participants will receive the Usual Care + Educational Resources |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Coping at Time 1 as assessed by Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS)
Coping will be assessed using the Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS), a 10-item patient-reported outcome measure evaluating perceived difficulty coping following hospital discharge. Each item is scored on a scale from 0 to 10. Item scores are summed to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater difficulty coping.
Measured: Measured at 3 months post-hospital discharge
Secondary outcomes (4)
Change in coping as assessed by Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS)
Coping will be assessed using the Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS), a 10-item patient-reported measure. Each item is scored from 0 to 10, with total scores ranging from 0 to 100. Change in total score will be calculated between time points. Higher scores indicate greater difficulty coping.
Measured: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Change in quality of life as assessed by Stroke-Specific Quality of Life (SS-QOL)
Quality of life will be assessed using the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life (SS-QOL) scale, a 49-item patient-reported measure evaluating multiple domains of health-related quality of life in stroke survivors. Each item is scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1 to 5). Domain scores are calculated as the average of items within each domain, and the overall score is calculated as the average of all domain scores or as the sum of all 49 items (ranging 49 to 245). Higher scores indicate better quality of life.
Measured: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Change in symptoms of depression as assessed by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Depressive symptoms will be assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), a 9-item patient-reported measure. Each item is scored from 0 to 3, resulting in a total score ranging from 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating greater severity of depressive symptoms.
Measured: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Change in social isolation and loneliness indicators as assessed by UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3)
Social isolation and loneliness will be assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), a 20-item patient-reported measure evaluating subjective feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Each item is scored on a 4-point scale. Total scores range from 20 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater loneliness.
Measured: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted15 May 2026
- Study startJun 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completionJan 2028 (estimated)
- Study completionApr 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for StrokeStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 840 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Bruyère Health Research Institute.
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- March of Dimes, Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07590076
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 191308
- Other IDs
- 5161
- Acronym
- DASH
- Status last verified
- May 2026
- First submitted
- 11 May 2026
- Last updated
- 18 May 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 18 May 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Volunteer Facilitated Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH) for People With Stroke: An Effectiveness-implementation Hybrid Trial.
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07590076
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- DASH / 191308
- Conditions
- Stroke, Stroke Rehabilitation, Transitional Care
- Keywords
- Patient Oriented Research, Community-Based Services, Intersectoral Partnership, Volunteers, Stroke rehabilitation, Transitional care
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 840 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Bruyère Health Research Institute.University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- March of Dimes, Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Study start
- Jun 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- Jan 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Apr 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 15 May 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a home visit by a trained volunteer can improve stroke recovery after a stroke survivor is discharged home from the hospital. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- After 3 months of being discharged from the hospital, does this additional volunteer support at home improve coping skills for stroke survivors?
- Does the effects of the volunteer support last over 3 to 6 months after being discharged home?
Researchers will compare between a group who will receive the volunteer support and a group who will not to see if the additional support can improve stroke recovery.
Participants will:
- Either receive volunteer support over an 8-week time period OR receive no additional volunteer support
- Continue with their usual care plan and receive educational resources from the research team during the study
- Complete online surveys during study enrollment, at 3 months, and at 6 months after hospital discharge
Detailed description
Acute stroke often leads to adult disability in Canada, and about 108,707 Canadians experience a stroke each year. While most people survive stroke (80 percent) and return home, some survivors are left with ongoing challenges that require them to seek help in the community. These challenges can lead to stress for the individual and their caregiver. Research on volunteer-supported home-to-hospital programs has shown positive outcomes. However, despite the growing evidence that supports volunteer engagement in care transitions, we have yet to determine the impact of a complex psychosocial volunteer-delivered care transition intervention for stroke survivors. This study will assess whether a volunteer-delivered transitional care intervention, designed by Bruyère Health Research Institute in partnership with March of Dimes Canada (MODC), for adults discharged home from a stroke rehabilitation unit following an acute stroke can improve coping compared to usual care. MODC will implement the volunteer-support transition program across two Ontario regions for stroke rehabilitation sites. Those allocated to the intervention group will receive an initial visit from the Volunteer Coordinator and then weekly one-on-one visits by a trained volunteer for eight weeks. The volunteer may assist the study participant with instrumental daily living activities and psychosocial and informational support. Those not receiving the intervention will receive educational material at 4- and 8-week time points in addition to their usual care. All study participants will complete validated patient-reported outcome measures at 3- and 6-months post-hospital discharge.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Group A: DASH group | Experimental | Behavioral: Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH)Participants will receive the DASH intervention + Usual Care + Educational Resources |
| Group B: Usual care group | No intervention | –Participants will receive the Usual Care + Educational Resources |
Who may qualify
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (5 listed)
- Confirmed diagnosis of stroke
- Either undergoing or recently completed in-patient rehabilitation within the last 3 weeks
- Lived at home pre-stroke
- Discharged directly home (to own residence or that of a family member)
- Live in one of the program implementation areas (i.e., Toronto, Ottawa)
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Discharged to additional hospital inpatient care, nursing home, or other long-term care
- Inability to communicate in English
- Inability to provide informed consent due to cognitive deficits
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH)One-on-one weekly visits in the stroke survivor participants' residence by a trained volunteer for approximately 8 weeks (about 2 months). Volunteer support could span three types: i) instrumental activities of daily living assistance (e.g., assistance with meal preparation, light house duties, and transportation), ii) psychosocial support (e.g., befriending visits), and iii) informational supports (signposting to other community services). | Behavioural | Group A: DASH group |
Primary outcome
Coping at Time 1 as assessed by Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS)
Time frame: Measured at 3 months post-hospital discharge
Coping will be assessed using the Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS), a 10-item patient-reported outcome measure evaluating perceived difficulty coping following hospital discharge. Each item is scored on a scale from 0 to 10. Item scores are summed to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater difficulty coping.
4 secondary outcomes
Change in coping as assessed by Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS)
Time frame: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Change in quality of life as assessed by Stroke-Specific Quality of Life (SS-QOL)
Time frame: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Change in symptoms of depression as assessed by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Time frame: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Change in social isolation and loneliness indicators as assessed by UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3)
Time frame: Measured at 3 months and 6 months post-hospital discharge
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 18 May 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Research Coordinator contact
6 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Discharge Assistance and Supports at Home (DASH) in people with Stroke and Stroke Rehabilitation, run by Bruyère Health Research Institute. at 6 sites in Canada.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 18 May 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 6 sites in Canada. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Michelle LA Nelson, MA, PhD, FAHA, FWSO (647-938-4425, mla.nelson@uottawa.ca), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Coping at Time 1 as assessed by Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale (PDCDS) (time frame: Measured at 3 months post-hospital discharge). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 18 May 2026.