Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: May 22, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: May 21, 2021 - Jul 16, 2021
Date Accepted: Jul 6, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Psycho-Educational Intervention for Caregivers of Persons with Multiple Sclerosis: Protocol for a Randomized Trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Of the ~1 million persons in the US living with multiple sclerosis (MS), over half receive informal, unpaid care or support from family or friends (caregivers). Despite reports of high levels of stress, anxiety, and negative emotions, only three psycho-educational interventions for these caregivers have been tested. None of these interventions have included web-delivered tailored information combined with tailored coaching with the aim of improving emotional and psychological outcomes for caregivers of persons with MS (PwMS).
Objective:
This paper presents a protocol for a randomized controlled trial that aims to test the efficacy of two interventions for improving stress, anxiety, depression and negative emotions for PwMS.
Methods:
Participants will include any self-identified family/friend caregiver of a PwMS. Data will be collected from April 2021 until November. Participants are randomized to receive either a website-only or a website-coaching intervention which is delivered over a 6 week period. Data are collected online via REDCap at baseline, 6 weeks after baseline (after delivery of intervention) and 6 weeks later.
Results:
The protocol was approved by the Case Western Reserve University Institutional Review Board (IRB) on January 21, 2021 (Protocol number 20201484). As of May 2021, we have enrolled 66 participants.
Conclusions:
Our findings will have implications for identifying the efficacy of two types of interventions developed for caregivers of PwMS in reducing negative psychological outcomes associated with caregiving. Clinical Trial: Trial Registration: Registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, registration number: NCT04662008.
Citation
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Copyright
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