MS Research have funded a study to complete the development of a digital toolkit to help people with MS to tackle fatigue. Once developed the toolkit or app will support the FACETS MS fatigue management programme. The toolkit is currently being tried out by participants of the latest in-person FACETS programme, led by Angela Davies Smith at the Vassall Centre in Bristol, where MS Research is based.
Following this stage of development, the toolkit will be tested at other centres across the country which run FACETS to give as many people with MS fatigue as possible the chance to provide user feedback.
What is FACETS?
Fatigue: Applying Cognitive behavioural and Energy effectiveness Techniques to lifeStyle, or FACETS, is a group-based therapy programme for people living with MS fatigue. The programme brings together cognitive behavioural therapy and energy effectiveness techniques to support people with MS to self-manage their fatigue.
The programme runs for six-weeks at a time and there are at-home tasks for participants to complete each week. These tasks include keeping an activity diary, creating sleep and rest routines, identifying and challenging unhelpful thoughts related to fatigue, setting lifestyle goals and making plans to keep on track with managing fatigue.
What will the Digital Toolkit provide?
The toolkit, which will be available for both Android and Apple mobile phone users, offers many features including the opportunity to complete the at-home tasks from the FACETS programme digitally. Currently participants usually complete these tasks on paper, although the paper version will still be available.
Additionally, there will be brief videos on various topics that are part of the FACETS programme and some pre-recorded relaxation practices, as requested by FACETS attendees following their experience of relaxation techniques used on the programme. However, these are currently not finalised in the version being tested during early September.
Dr Andy Pulman, a researcher in digital health and user experience at Bournemouth University, believes this is a key milestone in the toolkit development process:
“Participatory design is a beneficial approach to use when building this toolkit. We are actively seeking to involve as many users as possible to help ensure the resulting toolkit meets their needs, and that the final product is user friendly. This has greater importance as the toolkit nears completion, and it’s a great opportunity for people currently attending the in-person FACETS course to contribute their opinions on how easy and useful it might be.”