Professional consensus on UK national statements of best practice for ways of working to deliver orthotic interventions after stroke: an eDelphi study

Abstract

Objective: To reach consensus on statements of best practice for ways of working to deliver orthotic interventions after stroke among expert professionals in the UK involved in the delivery of orthotic intervention to patients after stroke. Design: A 2-round modified electronic Delphi exercise (eDelphi). Subjects: Thirty-two orthotic professionals with 2 years’ or more experience of delivering orthotic intervention within stroke rehabilitation, from varied geographical locations and experience levels participated in the eDelphi. Methods: For the eDelphi exercise, 65 statements of best practice were assessed by participants. A 7-point Likert scale was used to determine agreement with statements. A consensus threshold of 75% was pre-determined in line with other studies. Results: After the first round, consensus was reached for 62 of the statements. All statements had 75% or above agreement. An 87.5% retention rate was maintained between rounds. After the second round 64 statements of best practice achieved 75% consensus. Conclusion: Overall consensus 94.3% was achieved on the first UK-wide professionally agreed statements of best practice detailing the optimal ways of working when delivering orthotic interventions to enhance rehabilitation outcomes and reduce complications for stroke survivors.