Dr. Sarah Blanton is a physical therapist and professor at Emory University; her DISCOver Lab focuses on how digital scholarship enhances rehabilitation. Dr. Blanton has worked with ECDS since her initial award in 2013/2014 when ECDS helped to convert her CAREpartner and Collaborative Integrative Therapy Evaluation (CARE-CITE) rehabilitation intervention into an online multi-media platform. The CARE-CITE platform created by ECDS improves accessibility for carepartners (family members who care for and support stroke survivors), and incorporates recorded videos co-created with patients and their families. The platform also features a patient’s poetry detailing his journey after experiencing a stroke. As Dr. Blanton’s study has developed over the last decade, ECDS has continued supporting her work by assisting with user interface, system design, ongoing maintenance, and any technical issues. We are ecstatic to announce that we will continue supporting CARE-CITE, which has recently received over $2.7 million in NIH funding for another 5 years of study!!
So what exactly is CARE-CITE, and how does it work? The clinical study lasting from August 2024- July 2029 is entitled “Efficacy and Sustainability of a Carepartner-Integrated Telerehabilitation Program for Persons With Stroke.” Like Dr. Blanton’s previous work, this NIH-NICHD project emphasizes that family members play a valuable role in their loved one’s recovery after a stroke, and her focus on carepartners allows clinicians to better involve the family in rehabilitation therapy. Notably, she uses the phrase carepartners instead of caregivers in recognition that family members are knowledgeable and integral partners in their loved one’s care.
In addition to recognizing the importance of family members during recovery, Dr. Blanton also provides carepartners with rehabilitation training accessible via short informational videos and password-protected modules on the CARE-CITE platform. This training serves multiple purposes, such as 1) empowering family members to assist their loved ones in regaining strength and mobility in their affected arms and 2) improving stroke survivors and their family’s quality of life. The study is fully virtual, meaning that all visits are being conducted remotely, increasing accessibility for participants who might be unable to take time off work and/or travel to Emory’s campus.
As Dr. Blanton continues her research, she is extremely grateful for ECDS’ support. She explains, “ECDS bridges both my worlds—caregiving research and health humanities. It is not an exaggeration to say that having ECDS as a resource for my research has been one of the key drivers to successful funding since 2014.”