About the study
What is COMbAT Fatigue?
COMbAT Fatigue is a £2.1 million programme grant funded by the NIHR and Stroke Association. Our goal is to develop and test a self-management programme which will empower stroke survivors to manage their fatigue, enabling them to engage in activities that bring joy, value and meaning to their lives. We will co-create the programme together with stroke survivors, caregivers, clinicians and other experts.
What is fatigue?
Fatigue is different for different people. Often people feel they have no energy, overwhelming tiredness, or physically or mentally exhausted. This is different to normal tiredness and makes it difficult to take part in everyday activities.
Find out more about fatigue after stroke here.
Why is the study needed?
Fatigue is very common after stroke and mini-stroke. Many people describe fatigue as the most difficult and upsetting problem caused by their stroke.
We do not know the best way to manage fatigue after stroke and mini-stroke, and many people do not receive any information or support. Helping people to manage fatigue after stroke is a high-priority area for research.
What are we doing?
We will adapt a fatigue programme which was developed for people who have Multiple Sclerosis (FACETS). That programme was designed to be delivered in group meetings, but we will adapt it to be a web-based programme and adjust the content for the stroke and or mini-stroke (TIA) population.
We will design the research to include people who are often under-represented in research; for example, people with stroke-related impairments and ethnic minority groups.
Over five years, we will:
Hold group interviews with people who have had a stroke or mini-stroke (TIA), their relatives, healthcare professionals and other experts to understand how the Multiple Sclerosis fatigue intervention needs to be adapted for stroke.
2. Co-produce a stroke fatigue self-management programme
We will collaborate with people who have had a stroke or mini-stroke (TIA), their relatives, healthcare professionals and experts to design a self-management programme for post-stroke fatigue.
We will test the fatigue programme with a small group of stroke/ mini-stroke (TIA) survivors to get initial feedback about whether it is easy to use and helpful.
We will do a small study to see if the fatigue programme and our study design are practical and acceptable.
5. Randomised controlled trial
We will do a large trial with 610 people that have post-stroke fatigue to see if the fatigue programme improves their fatigue.