Program Overview

Program Overview

The program in question is the Fatigue: Applying Cognitive behavioural and Energy effectiveness Techniques to lifeStyle ('FACETS') program, designed for people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objectives

The primary objectives of the FACETS program are to reduce fatigue severity, improve self-efficacy, and enhance the quality of life for individuals with MS.

Design and Methods

The program is a group-based fatigue management programme that incorporates cognitive behavioural and energy effectiveness techniques. A questionnaire substudy within a randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted, utilizing the self-completed Fatigue Management Strategies Questionnaire (FMSQ). The FMSQ assesses the use and helpfulness of fatigue management strategies taught in FACETS, as well as open items about changes to lifestyle, attitudes or expectations, barriers or difficulties encountered, and helpful strategies not covered in FACETS.

Participants

Participants included individuals with a clinical diagnosis of MS, significant fatigue, who were ambulatory and had attended at least 4 of 6 scheduled FACETS sessions.

Results

The results showed that the fatigue management strategies most frequently used since attending FACETS were:

• Prioritisation (80%)
• Pacing (78%)
• Saying no to others (78%)
• Grading tasks (75%)
• Challenging unhelpful thoughts (71%) Adding in those participants who were already using the respective strategies prior to FACETS, the three most used strategies at 4 months were prioritisation, grading, and pacing.

Conclusions

The findings support the relevance of a cognitive behavioural approach for fatigue management and highlight the complex, multifaceted nature of fatigue management. Revising expectations and a greater acceptance of fatigue were important shifts following the programme. Booster sessions might be a useful addition to the FACETS programme.

Keywords

• Qualitative research
• Health Services and Systems
• Autoimmune Disease
• Clinical Research
• Neurodegenerative
• Brain Disorders
• Neurosciences
• Clinical Trials and Supportive Activities
• Multiple Sclerosis

Publisher and DOI

The program details are published by BMJ, with a DOI of 10.1136/bmjopen-.

Rights Statement

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.