Multiple Sclerosis
Conditions
Keywords
depression, social isolation
Brief summary
Primary objectives: * To determine the feasibility of program (80% retained with 75% overall attendance, and completed immediate follow-up questionnaires from 75% of participants). * To determine the efficacy of program (evaluated by decreased loneliness, operationalized as decreased total score on the UCLA Loneliness Scale from pre to post intervention). Secondary objective: * To determine whether program will affect depression and quality of life.
Detailed description
This study involves prospective data collection from an intervention to investigate the impact of participation by MS patients in a 12-week guided online social support group. All outcomes will be compared to active control group. At the completion of a 12-week interval, all participants (placebo and treatment) will complete follow-up questionnaires. Three months after completing, participants will be sent follow-up questionnaires that will be evaluated as a 6-month follow-up, to assess retention of benefits. Social support has been linked to better health outcomes in many clinical populations. Multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic neurological disease that affects over 400,000 people in the United States, involves physical and cognitive disability that can have negative consequences on social integration. This can lead to social isolation, which may be dynamically related to depression, fatigue, and disease progression. The aim of the present study is to investigate the impact of support group involvement on persons with MS. Outcomes of interest include mood, loneliness, and quality of life (QOL). Many people with MS feel isolated and are unable to participate in support groups that meet in locations that may be far from home, difficult to travel to (due to physical disability or lack of resources), or may not be convenient for their schedules. Another hindrance is the apprehension that MS patients sometimes experience when they encounter patients with severe physical disability, or worse impairment than their own. For these reasons, the study is introducing remote support groups to be conducted via the internet, e-Support. Attending a remote, internet based support group may be more appealing to patients with MS as it obviates the need to travel, thereby reducing cost, time, and energy.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALe-Support group
Online (remote), web-based support group via private video link.
BEHAVIORALe-Journaling placebo
Online journaling activity.
Sponsors
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Columbia University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Diagnosis of MS (any disease type) * Age 18 or over * Willingness to sign informed consent document
Exclusion criteria
* Unable to obtain access to the internet
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of enrolled participants who completed follow-up questionnaires | 12 weeks | Assess feasibility of the program: to retain and obtain completed questionnaires at immediate follow-up from 80% of enrolled participants (meeting the criteria of 75% attendance). |
| Change in UCLA Loneliness Scale total score (please note that the official name of the scale is the UCLA Loneliness Scale). | Baseline, 12 weeks (immediate follow-up) | Assess efficacy of the program to decrease loneliness as defined by a significant decrease in total score on UCLA Loneliness Scale. This name never appears as anything other than UCLA Loneliness Scale, i.e. Russell 1996) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in overall depression [Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)] total score | Baseline, 12 weeks | Assess efficacy of the program to decrease depression as defined by a significant decrease in total score on Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9): an efficient tool for depression screening. The scale ranges from 0-27, with higher scores indicating worse depression. |
| Change in overall Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life (FAMS QoL) score | Baseline, 12 weeks | Assess efficacy of the program to improve quality of life. The Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) quality of life (QoL) instrument is a disease-specific, self-report questionnaire. It includes 7 subscales. The total score is generated by summing scores across all subscales, and ranges from 0-232, with higher scores reflective or worse overall function. In addition to considering a significant decrease in the total score as an indication of better overall function, we will separately examine each subscale to see whether decreases in score (indicating improvements in function) are shown. This includes the following subscales: mobility, symptoms, emotional well-being, general contentment, thinking and fatigue, family/social well-being, and additional concerns scales. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed