ArticleBMC health services research2025
Health-seeking behaviour, health service delivery and its perceived impact among stroke survivors in Sierra Leone: a longitudinal qualitative study embedded in the SISLE project.
Article in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Delay in seeking medical care among breast cancer patients with malignant fungating wounds and their caregivers: a qualitative dyadic study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundStroke is a leading cause of disability and mortality globally. Despite growing awareness of the stroke epidemic, there is limited understanding of the lived experiences and perspectives of stroke care within resource-constrained health systems. This study explored the experiences and perspectives of stroke survivors, primary caregivers and healthcare providers on stroke care in Sierra Leone.
methodsThis qualitative descriptive study involved face-to-face semi-structured interviews with stroke survivors, informal caregivers, and healthcare providers between December 2020 and August 2021 in Sierra Leone. We purposively sampled participants to capture diverse experiences across the care continuum. Data were analysed thematically using a constant comparative approach and interpretative phenomenological analysis, triangulating perspectives across participant groups.
resultsFive interconnected themes emerged and are grouped into three categories: (1) Health-seeking behaviour: delayed hospital presentation, financial burden and out-of-pocket costs; (2) Health service delivery: hospital care experiences, access to and continuity of physiotherapy and; (3) Perceived impact and recommendation: recommendations for systemic improvements. Stroke survivors and caregivers reported a lack of knowledge of stroke symptoms, considering traditional treatment or religious consultation as the first point of contact, resulted in considerable delay in seeking hospitalisation. Other major barriers were related to challenges in accessing physiotherapy services and the financial hardship associated with stroke care. The dependence of stroke survivors on their caregivers as a result of staffing shortages and frequent communication breakdowns was frequently reported during hospitalisation. National health policies on stroke care, dedicated stroke units, community physiotherapy programmes and funding support were recommended.
conclusionStroke care in Sierra Leone is limited by systemic barriers that include infrastructure, cost, and accessibility. To bridge these gaps, community-based stroke education, health insurance schemes, workforce stroke-care training, and organised stroke-care delivery are needed. These results offer actionable recommendations for improving stroke care and service delivery in resource-constrained settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.