Teleconference Fatigue Management for People With Multiple Sclerosis

University of Illinois

Status: Completed

Conditions: Multiple Sclerosis

Treatments: Behavioral: Energy conservation education

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00591721

H133G070006

Details and patient eligibility

About

Approximately 60% of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) describe fatigue as their most disabling symptom. Energy conservation education involves teaching people with MS different strategies to manage fatigue and reduce its impact on daily life. Despite growing evidence of the effectiveness of face-to-face energy conservation education, not all people with MS are able to access these programs. The purpose of this project is to test the effectiveness and efficacy of a teleconference-delivered energy conservation education program for people with MS. The primary goals of the project are to reduce the impact of fatigue on participants' everyday lives, reduce fatigue severity, and improve quality of life. Secondary goals are to increase self-efficacy for managing fatigue and increase the number of energy conservation strategies used. The study will employ a randomly allocated two group time series design with a wait-list control group, which is one type of randomized control trial. A total of 181 people with MS will be recruited through direct mailing and advertising. The program will be delivered by telephone teleconference by a licensed occupational therapist. Outcome measures will be administered over the telephone by a research assistant before and after the program, at three months and at six months. We hypothesize that: (1) individuals in the immediate intervention group achieve better outcomes than individuals in the wait-list control group; (2) the program leads to significant reductions in fatigue impact and fatigue severity, and improved quality of life; and (3) improvements in the outcomes can be maintained over six months.

Enrollment: 190 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• a diagnosis of MS
• 18 years of age or older
• functional English literacy (i.e., able to read course materials and carry on telephone conservations in English)
• Fatigue Severity Scale score of 4 or greater
• Residing in the state of Illinois

Exclusion criteria

• Short version - Blessed Orientation Memory Concentration Test - outside of normal range

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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190 participants in 2 patient groups

Energy conservation education

Experimental group

Description:

Participants received 6-70 minute group teleconference sessions with an occupational therapist facilitator. The intervention provided education, guided discussion, and peer support for learning about and applying energy conservation principles

Treatment:

Behavioral: Energy conservation education

Wait list control

Other group

Description:

Participants received 6-70 minute group teleconference sessions with an occupational therapist facilitator. The intervention provided education, guided discussion, and peer support for learning about and applying energy conservation principles.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Energy conservation education