Title: Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives on Post-Stroke Mood Changes: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Thank you for considering participating in this research project. The purpose of this document is to explain to you what our research is about and what your participation would involve, to enable you to make an informed choice.

Robert Callaghan (a Pharmacist and PhD student) and Dr Michelle Broderick (an Occupational Therapist and Lecturer) at University College Cork (UCC) are conducting a study to explore healthcare professionals' awareness and practices towards post-stroke mood changes. Post-stroke mood changes refer to changes in a patient’s emotional state following a stroke, and can include post-stroke depression, anxiety, apathy, and fatigue. Post-stroke mood changes can significantly affect recovery, and quality of life making early recognition essential. Your insight as a healthcare professional is crucial, given your professional interactions with stroke survivors in the community. If you encounter stroke survivors in your clinical practice we would love to hear your views. Participation involves completing a brief questionnaire covering demographics, your awareness of post-stroke mood changes, and your practices when engaging with suspected cases in the community, including any associated challenges. The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. When asked about ‘your practice’ in the survey, this refers to your ‘principal practice’ (i.e. the practice/setting you work most hours in per week).

Participation in this study is completely voluntary. There is no obligation to participate; should you choose to do so, you can refuse to answer specific questions or decide to withdraw from the study prior to completing the survey. You maintain the right to withdraw from the study at any stage up to the point of data submission. At this point, your data will be collated with that of other participants and – as it is anonymous – can no longer be retracted.

All information you provide will be confidential and your anonymity will be protected throughout the study. Please do not provide any information in the free text box answers that may reveal your or your patients’ identity. Since your practice, IP address, and email addresses will not be collected at any point, the data you provide cannot be traced back to you, and the anonymised data will be deleted from the survey platform after it has been extracted.

This study has received ethical approval from the UCC Social Research Ethics Committee. Your data will remain anonymous and accessible only to the research team, listed below. Data will be securely stored on the UCC OneDrive for at least ten years, in compliance with the UCC Code of Research Conduct. Your participation is needed to better understand mental health challenges post stroke. Results will be communicated via conference presentations and publications and will also contribute to Robert Callaghan’s PhD thesis.

We do not anticipate any negative outcomes from participating in this study. Should you experience distress arising from participating in the research or if you have any queries about this research, you can contact us via email: Mr Robert Callaghan (Robert.Callaghan@ucc.ie), Dr Irene Hartigan (i.hartigan@ucc.ie), or Dr Michelle Broderick (mbroderick@ucc.ie).