A self-management program to prevent falls in people with multiple sclerosis - a randomized controlled trial

The purpose is to evaluate the effects of a self-management fall prevention program for people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS):Is the program effective in reducing number of falls in PwMS at 6- and 12-months?What contextual factors, mechanisms of impact and implementation aspects can likely explain the effects of the program?What is the cost effectiveness of the program at 12 months?

The project is carried out by our interdisciplinary team including a person with MS.

The team is experienced in fall prevention, self-management, and randomized control trials (RCT) with both qualitative and quantitative methods including health economic evaluations.The program is evaluated in a RCT regarding effect, process, and cost-effectiveness, with start spring 2024 and end of data collection in fall 2025.

Recruited are 208 PwMS, ambulatory and non-ambulatory. Primary effect outcome is fall incidence.

For process evaluation, interviews with a strategic sample of intervention PwMS and quantitative data from the program platform are used. For cost-effectiveness analysis, quantitative data is collected from program participants and national databases.

Falls among PwMS are very common and associated with injuries, fear of falling, low health-related quality of life and high socioeconomic costs, due to the many injurious falls.

There are very few self-management fall-prevention programs; only our has been developed using a co-design process with PwMS and healthcare professionals.