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Managing MS well requires self-management skills, including decision-making skills. It also requires considerable guidance and teaching from healthcare professionals on health and wellness strategies. However, current gaps in the availability and quality of resources in this area can make decision-making for people living with MS challenging. The need for smoking cessation is an example of an area of MS care which has received a lot of attention in recent times, but there is little in the way of direct guidance for people living with MS to stop smoking successfully.Â
In her research, Dr Claudia Marck aims to uncover these gaps and help develop resources to promote safer and more effective outcomes for people living with MS. There are several areas of focus in this research. Dr Marck aims to develop smoking cessation resources specifically for the MS community. Additionally, the team will develop new statistical methods to assess the effectiveness of different MS treatments such as psychological interventions and physical activity, not just medications. Dr Marck will also focus on these treatments and their impact on common MS symptoms, such as walking impairment, depression and fatigue. In her research, Dr Marck also hopes to more deeply understand how self-management skills and access to healthcare may be impacted by crises, such as the recent Australian bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. Â
Outcomes from this research will assist both healthcare professionals working in MS, and people living with MS, to access appropriate resources to promote self-management, decision making and wellness, improving both quality of life and health in general.Â
Dr Marck’s team recruited and interviewed MS nurses and neurologists about their awareness and acceptance of clinical practice guidelines and what were the enablers and barriers to using clinical practice guidelines. The team found variation in how nurses and neurologists used these guidelines, although they believed they can improve consistency, safety and quality of care for people with MS. The team identified various enablers and barriers to using guidelines that may improve the development of future guidelines.Â
Dr Marck’s team compared how effective and safe treatments for depression are in MS and found the strength of the published evidence was low. This means that no sensible decisions between treatments could be made.Â
Dr Marck’s team analysed the usefulness of the Red Cross RediPlan for preparing people with MS for disasters and crises. The team found that RediPlan was well-accepted and improved people’s ability to cope in a crisis, but it was time-consuming. The team developed a toolkit to accompany and improve the RediPlan, to be rolled out through MS nurses.Â
Dr Marck has formed several collaborations, including with a research group in Germany, and has a publication under review in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Â
Updated 31 March 2024
$165,000
2021
3 years
Current project
