Treatment understanding and certainty in MS patients.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Effect of risk propensity on understanding and decision-making regarding disease-modifying drugs in Multiple Sclerosis.
IRAS ID
237342
Contact name
Elizabeth Donnachie
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
People with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) face a difficult decision when it comes to weighing up the various costs and benefits of particular drugs that they may be offered as part of their treatment. The risk-benefit profiles are not always correctly interpreted and understood by people with MS. Research has also shown that there is often a difference between patients and health professionals in terms of risk awareness. Reen et al., (2017) developed a way to present treatment risks and benefits of disease modifying drugs to patients with MS, in order to improve patient understanding and confidence compared to standard presentation. This Benefit and Risk Information for Medication in Multiple Sclerosis (BRIMMS) protocol improved patients’ understanding and certainty about treatment. Furthermore, it has been noted in previous research that people with MS may have problems when making decisions under risk conditions. Our study will seek to confirm the previous BRIMMS study’s findings and also investigate the impact of risk attitude and risk perception on treatment understanding and decision-making. The research will be conducted at The Royal Free London NHS Trust with patients with relapsing remitting MS. It is important to investigate the effect of risk perception on treatment understanding and decisions as this information could be used to determine patient characteristics in advance of the consultation during which the information is to be presented. It would mean that the presentation of the information could be amended to support the shared decision making process between patient and healthcare professionals.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
18/NI/0102
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion