Brief summary

The purpose of this project is to evaluate a digital version of an empirically supported group resilience-training program for adults living with multiple sclerosis (MS) called REsilience Activities every DaY (READY) for MS. The program was developed by researchers at University of Queensland (UQ) and is designed to teach resilience skills for managing life challenges. It is based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which is a recent variant of the well-established cognitive and behaviour therapy. The project involves a collaboration between UQ and two industry partners: a patient support organisation (Partizan Worldwide Pty Ltd) and a pharmaceutical company, Biogen Australia Pty Ltd. It is predicted that compared to people with MS on a waitlist, those who participate in the READY program will report significantly greater improvements in resilience, quality of life and distress.

Inclusion criteria

• 18 years and older
• fluent in English
• represent typical variations of MS severity and disability
• male or female
• receiving support via the Partizan Australia MS Alliance Program

Partizan will recruit participants from its estimated 2,000 MS clients for the project. Participants will be limited to MS patients enrolled in the MS Alliance and who take Biogen MS medications for relapse-remitting MS. If needed, Partizan Phone Consultants may invite MS patients to participate in the program during a scheduled phone support call. Participation is completely optional. Partizan will manage the recruitment process for the project. The inclusion criteria will be: 18 years and older, and fluent in English. A potential participant will have approximately 6 weeks to consider participation.

Minimum age
18 Years

Maximum age
No limit

Gender
Both males and females

Anticipated start date

Late August 2021

Recruitment contacts

Prof Kenneth Pakenham
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4072
Australia
Ph: 07 3365 6677
Email: kenp@psy.uq.edu.au

Further details

Full details of the trial can be found on the ANZCTR clinical trials database.

Region

ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, WA, VIC

Ethics approval

Yes

Last updated

08/09/2021