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MS Center’s community wellness program garners Hope Award
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — CentraState Medical Center’s Linda E. Cardinale Multiple Sclerosis Center has received the Linda Morgante Hope Award from the International Organization of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses (IOMSN).
A presentation describing the MS Center’s 12-week community wellness program received the Hope Award, given for the program that represents a spirit of optimism and possibility in clinical care or education for patients with MS, and their families.
“Our multidimensional MS Wellness Program was developed to facilitate positive health choices, with education to improve physical functioning, coping skills, symptoms management, nutrition and ability to meet personal goals,” says Brian Mason, PT, DPT, MDT, clinical director, Rehabilitation, CentraStateMedical Center. “The program is part of the coordinated care and comprehensive support offered by the MS Center through a team of specialists.”
The Linda Morgante Hope Award was presented at the annual meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses in San Antonio Texas in June. Morgante was a worldwide lecturer on MS, a founding member of the IOMSN and an assistant professor of Nursing at St. John’s College.
For more information about multiple sclerosis, or to schedule an appointment for an evaluation, second opinion and treatment, call (732) 294-2505.
CentraState Healthcare System is a non-profit community health organization consisting of an acute-care hospital, an ambulatory care campus, three senior living communities, a Family Medicine Residency Program, and a charitable foundation. It is a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Health Network and a clinical research affiliate of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The IOMSN Linda Morgante Hope Award
The IOMSN Linda Morgante Hope Award is presented each year for the poster which best represents a spirit of optimism and possibility related to clinical care or education for patients with MS and their families.
(S59) DEVELOPING A WELLNESS PROGRAM FOR PEOPLE WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS:
DESCRIPTION AND INITIAL RESULTS
D.L. Hart,1 R.I. Memoli,2 B. Mason2
1Consulting and Research, Focus On Therapeutic Outcomes, Inc.
2Rehabilitation , CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold, NJ
Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is multidimensional. A comprehensive wellness program was developed with educational sessions in physical, mental, social, intellectual, and spiritual domains targeting improved self-effi cacy, physical functioning, coping skills, symptom management, and nutrition. Objectives: To describe a wellness program designed to facilitate positive health choices, initial data analyses, and program strengths/weaknesses. Methods: A standardized outcomes data collection
process reduced patient/clinician burden while facilitating multiple construct data collection: patient self-reported outcomes and clinician data. Multiple constructs were quantifi ed during a 12-week program: functional status, pain, fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activities, fatigue, depression, and somatization. We assessed change in constructs while controlling confounding variables using one-way analyses of covariance. Results: We analyzed data from 68 people with MS from the CentraState MS
Wellness Program, part of Linda E. Cardinale MS Center (2008–2009). Age averaged 51 years (minimum 30, maximum 71, SD 9). Eighty percent were female, 93% were white, and 95% were non-Hispanic. Sixty-seven percent had a college degree or some college training, 15% had a high school diploma, and 8% had less than an 8th-grade education. Fifty-eight percent lived in households with incomes of >$75,000/year. Fifty-one percent had four or more comorbid conditions. Ninety-fi ve percent had
chronic MS symptoms, and 66% classifi ed their symptoms as relapsing-remitting. Functional status increased while fatigue, pain, depression, somatization, and fear-avoidance of physical activities decreased (P < .05). When people were classified as having elevated compared with minimal risk of depression, those at minimal risk reported better improvement in functional status at program discharge (P < .05). Conclusions: The data suggested that the wellness program positively influenced participants.
Use of multiple constructs allowed classifi cation of people in different ways. Initial analyses focused on the need for complete data and additional methods of classifying MS severity. The data suggested that we need a scale to assess participants’ balance. Multidimensional data facilitated statistical risk adjustment of outcomes. More data from more clinics performing similar wellness approaches are needed for comparative effectiveness research related to conservative care of people with MS.
Supported by: CentraState Healthcare System
Disclosure: D.L. Hart: Focus On Therapeutic Outcomes, Inc (salary). R.I. Memoli, B. Mason: Nothing to disclose.
Keywords: rehabilitation strategies and therapy and MS, complementary/alternative therapies in MS, management of activities of daily living in MS