Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that leads to major disability, forcing patients and caregivers to adapt their environment and lifestyle. Once they receive the diagnosis, patients and caregivers need to understand the symptoms, cope with them, to digest the diagnosis... All these needs are not completely addressed by the current model of care so we created a therapeutic educational program (TEP) program that will last 12 months, involving both patients and caregivers, including a mixed model of in-person visits and continuous on-line activities. Our project aims to target early MSA patients and their caregivers, proposing to test the feasibility (primary objective) of an innovative therapeutic educational program (TEP) for MSA patients.
The announcement of MSA diagnosis may provoke a shock in patients and their relatives. Educational programs in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), offer patients and caregivers structured skills in disease knowledge, expertise, and management. Those programs may result in an improvement of patients' quality of life (QoL), empowering patients and their caregivers to deal with psychosocial challenges. Additionally, it has been shown that educational programs positively impact the perceived health of PD patients without increasing medical costs. There is no educational program for MSA patients. This is the reason why we created the first therapeutic educational program (TEP) for MSA patients and caregivers, including a mix model of in person visits and online classes and virtual activities. Herein, we aim to target early MSA patients (time to diagnosis \< 1 year) and their caregivers, proposing to test the feasibility of this TEP. The program will last 12 months, involving both patients and caregivers, including a mixed model of in-person visits (at baseline and 12 months) and continuous on-line activities (learning situations, questionnaires, quizzes, videos, and interactive exercises).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
15
the TEP lasts 12 months, being structured into 6 modules.
CHU Toulouse
Toulouse, France
Feasibility of the program
Rate of the patient/caregiver pairs having reached the visit at 6 months and the visit at 12 months of the ETP program. The threshold value of the rate being 80% = " retention rate ". Thus, if the rate is equal or above 80% : the program is considered feasable
Time frame: 1 year
Recruitment rate
Rate of eligible patients successfully enrolled in the study
Time frame: 1 year
Satisfaction rate
Satisfaction of the patients and caregivers with the program will be assessed by means of Likert scale questionnaires, stratified for different aspects of the program, including content, ease of use and format. Drop-out reasons will be recorded, to better understand the needs or the difficulties met during the TEP by patients and caregivers. As routinely done for all MSA patients followed in our Reference Centres, Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale (UMSARS) I + II will be collected at baseline and at study ending (12 months) The scale goes from 0 to 10 : 10 representing the highest satisfaction of the program.
Time frame: 1 year
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