Pilot Study for the Evaluation of the More Stamina in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis

Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires

Status

Completed

Conditions

Multiple Sclerosis

Chronic Conditions, Multiple

Fatigue

Treatments

Other: More Stamina

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04244214

5497

Details and patient eligibility

About

The overall study aims are to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and usability of More Stamina, a mobile app for fatigue self-management for persons with MS.

Full description

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the world's most common neurologic disorders of the young adults leading to severe disability. Fatigue is one of most common symptoms that persons with MS experience, having significant impact on their quality of life and limiting their activity levels. Self-management strategies are used to support them in the care of their health. Mobile health (mHealth) solutions are a way to offer persons with chronic conditions tools to successfully manage their symptoms and problems. User-centered design (UCD) is a design philosophy that proposes placing end-users' needs and characteristics in the center of software design and development and involving users early in the different phases of the software life cycle. More Stamina is an mHealth solution created following UCD principles to help persons with MS manage their fatigue.

A mixed methods study was used to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and usability of More Stamina. The study took place between January and March of 2023 in Finland. A longitudinal cohort study took take place, along with think-aloud protocols, open-ended interviews and short answer questionnaires. The study enrolled 20 persons with MS that met the criteria who utilized the More Stamina solution for 60 days.

Enrollment

20 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 80 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

be over 18 years old;
have a confirmed MS diagnosis (including secondary, relapsing and progressive MS) for at least 1 year,
have none to moderate physical disability (EDSS < 6.5) at the time of recruiting;
no major cognitive or haptile impairment influencing the ability to use the app;
own a compatible smartphone device;

Exclusion criteria

Refusal to participate or the informed consent process;
Objective cognitive impairment that hinders the use of mobile applications;
Physical or cognitive impossibility to use the visual interface of mobile applications;
difficulties in access or availability for full attendance at the 3 encounters of the study.