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Health Education Research Advance Access published online on August 3, 2009
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyp037
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Pilot study of a cognitive intervention program for persons with multiple sclerosis

Eynat Shevil1 and Marcia Finlayson2

1 Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, PO Box 39040, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
2 Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1919 West Taylor Street, Mail Code 811, Chicago, IL 60612, USA

Correspondence to: * Correspondence to: E. Shevil. E-mail: eshevil{at}post.tau.ac.il

Cognitive impairments are prevalent in multiple sclerosis (MS) and can significantly limit participation in daily activities. Although the clinical depiction of cognitive impairments in MS has been well investigated, strategies to manage cognitive difficulties are less well studied. This pilot study tested a 5-week, group-based community program addressing strategies to self-manage MS cognitive changes. The goals of the program were to increase participants’ knowledge of cognitive impairments, increase levels of self-efficacy to manage cognitive difficulties and increase use of management strategies. Participants were taught various cognitive compensatory strategies and practiced their implementation between sessions. Thirty-five individuals with MS with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairments participated in the program. All participants exhibited increased knowledge of cognitive impairments and their daily impact. Participants significantly increased levels of self-efficacy in their ability to manage cognitive difficulties ({chi}Formula2=37.15, P ≤ 0.0001). Self-efficacy scores were maintained at follow-up ({chi}Formula2=1.48, P = 0.2230). Although the number of strategies participants used did not change significantly ({chi}Formula2=2.82, P = 0.2446), they reported increased effectiveness of strategies and being able to generalize strategies to other activities. Study results point to the potential benefits of self-management programs to address cognitive symptoms in MS. Study limitations include no control group and use of non-standardized outcome measures.

Received on January 12, 2009; accepted on June 23, 2009


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