Digital implementation of originally school-based stroke educational programme in Greece due to the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT This paper describes the digitalization process of an originally school-based educational programme to an online version and confirms its efficacy on teaching young children as well as their parents about stroke symptoms and the necessary actions needed to be taken in the event of a stroke. Forty children (20 children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) and 20 without NDDs), aged 4–9 years, as well as 35 of these children’s parents (30–50 years old) participated in the study in Greece. All individuals watched 5 educational videos, designed and produced by the Super Grand League Team. Each video had a mean duration of 15 minutes. Most children had no prior knowledge neither in stroke symptoms nor to the appropriate actions after a stroke. Children’s knowledge of stroke symptoms (except the symptom of speech disturbance) and the appropriate actions following stroke improved significantly immediately post training (p < 0.05). Children with NDDs demonstrated no significant differences when compared to their peers without NDDs in regards to the knowledge gains. In the same line, parents showed a significant increase in their knowledge as regards the stroke symptoms (p < 0.001). Only 2 parents (5.7%) knew the correct emergency number before participating in the online programme, while all of them (100%) responded correctly after the programme. The current work using multimodal remote education demonstrates significant improvement in learning about stroke symptomatology and the necessary steps that need to follow. Future work should evaluate the impact of digital interventions in respect of onset-to-door times and stroke outcomes.