Gateway to Wellness: An Occupational Therapy Collaboration with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Author(s):  
Luis De-Bernardi-Ojuel ◽  
Laura Torres-Collado ◽  
Manuela García-de-la-Hera

This scoping review aims to describe occupational therapy interventions carried out with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in occupational therapy. A peer review of the literature was conducted in different databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase, and in some occupational therapy journals. A search of the literature published was carried out before December 2019. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) articles evaluating the intervention of occupational therapy in MS or ALS including experimental, randomized, nonrandomized and exploratory studies; (2) written in English or Spanish; (3) adult population (over 18 years old). The initial search identified 836 articles of which we included 32 divided into four areas of intervention: fatigue-targeted interventions, cognitive interventions, physical interventions and others. Only 16 studies were carried out exclusively by occupational therapists. Most occupational therapy interventions are aimed at fatigue and physical rehabilitation. The majority of the studies in our review included MS patients, with little representation from the ALS population. These interventions have shown an improvement in perceived fatigue, manual dexterity, falls prevention and improvement in cognitive aspects such as memory, communication, depression and quality of life in the MS and ALS populations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 1074-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Ontaneda ◽  
N LaRocca ◽  
T Coetzee ◽  
RA Rudick

This article describes proceedings from a meeting of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) Task Force on Clinical Disability Measures (the TF). The TF was appointed by the NMSS Research Programs Advisory Committee with the goal of pooling and analyzing existing datasets to explore the utility of novel disability outcome measures based on the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) approach. The TF seeks to determine the suitability of the MSFC approach as a primary clinical outcome measure for registration trials in MS. The TF met in Washington, DC, Dec. 14 and 15, 2011, and provided unanimous support for a collaborative approach involving representatives from academic medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory agencies, the NMSS and the Critical Path Institute. There was also unanimous agreement that analysis of existing datasets would be useful in making progress toward the objective. The TF placed high value on determining the clinical meaning of individual component measures for the MSFC, and in establishing optimal analysis methods for MSFC so that scores would be more interpretable than the originally recommended z-score method. The background for a collaborative project aimed at developing an improved disability outcome measure is described in this paper.


Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Rumrill ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
David Strauser ◽  
Richard T. Roessler ◽  
Malachy Bishop ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an intrusive disease that significantly affects labor force participation. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the extent to which factors at the personal, health and function, and environmental/career maintenance levels contribute to the predictability power for quality of life among employed people with MS. METHOD: Participants consisted of 523 members of nine National Multiple Sclerosis Society chapters representing 21 states and Washington, DC. These individuals were employed at the time of the survey, and they were primarily middle age (average age of 48 years) and Caucasian (74%). RESULTS: The final hierarchical multiple regression model explained 54 percent of the variability in participants’ quality of life scores, although none of the hypothesized personal/demographic predictors were significant. Participants who perceived better overall health and lower levels of stress, who experienced less severe cognitive and mobility-related MS symptoms, and who expressed stronger job-person matches and higher levels of job satisfaction reported higher quality of life scores than did other participants. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underscore the complexity involved in predicting perceived quality of life among employed people with MS. Implications of these findings for future research and clinical practice are discussed.


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