The effect of mobile-based self-care program on balance of people with Multiple Sclerosis

Nowadays the use of mobile health technology to improve health is a great opportunity for developing countries, to have a more efficient health system by telemedicine education. So the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mobile-based self-care application on the balance of people with multiple sclerosis.

The present study is a clinical trial study performed in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in 2019. The study units were selected by convenience sampling and were divided into two groups of experimental and control. At first, balance level of the patients was measured by Tinetti (Tinetti Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment) questionnaire. Then, for the experimental group, the self-care application was installed on their cell phone and for two months was used by patients. The control group received no intervention during this period. The application usage rate was measured by self-report checklists. After two months balance level was again measured in both groups. Data were analyzed by using SPSS-21 software and chi-square and independent and paired t-test.

Participants in two groups had no significant difference in terms of demographic characteristics and underlying variables including: Age (P = 0.736), age groups (P = 0.955), gender (P = 0.722), education (P = 0.880), marital status (P = 0.358), and occupation (P = 0.172). Before intervention, the mean of balance score was 10.61 ± 3.78 in the control group and 10.55 ± 2.96 in the experimental group, that was not statistically significant (P = 0.945). It was while, two months after intervention the mean balance score in the control group was 10.52 ± 3.63 and in the experimental group was 12.00 ± 2.47 and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.049).

The results show that implementation mobile-based self-care applications is effective in improving the balance of the patients with multiple sclerosis. Therefore, mobile applications of this supportive method could be useful to manage their disease and to obtain self-care skills.