Background Previous studies examining social work interventions in stroke
often lack information on content, methods and timing over different phases of
care including acute hospital, rehabilitation and out-patient care. This
limits our ability to evaluate the impact of social work in multidisciplinary
stroke care. We aimed to quantify social-work-related support in stroke
patients and their carers in terms of timing and content, depending on the
different phases of stroke care. Methods We prospectively collected and
evaluated data derived from a specialized “Stroke-Service-Point” (SSP); a
“drop in” center and non-medical stroke assistance service, staffed by social
workers and available to all stroke patients, their carers and members of the
public in the metropolitan region of Berlin, Germany. Results Enquiries from
257 consenting participants consulting the SSP between March 2010 and April
2012 related to out-patient and in-patient services, therapeutic services,
medical questions, medical rehabilitation, self-help groups and questions
around obtaining benefits. Frequency of enquiries for different topics
depended on whether patients were located in an in-patient or out-patient
setting. The majority of contacts involved information provision. While the
proportion of male and female patients with stroke was similar, about two
thirds of the carers contacting the SSP were female. Conclusion The social-
work-related services provided by a specialized center in a German
metropolitan area were diverse in terms of topic and timing depending on the
phase of stroke care. Targeting the timing of interventions might be important
to increase the impact of social work on patient’s outcome
