Towards new and suitable rehabilitation for visual complaints in MS: Do we see what they see?

We aim to develop new rehabilitation modules for visual complaints for people with MS that are effective for visual complaints in general, do not require assessment of functions beforehand and are easy to administer or to apply for people with MS. The rehabilitation modules are aimed at making the world around us easily visible, requiring less effort from the brain. The modules therefore do not focus on specific complaints, but on complaints in general. The modules can also be adapted for people with other kind of acquired brain injury, such as traumatic brain injury and Parkinson’s disease.

People with MS see most clearly what is needed for them. Therefore, the needs, wishes, requirements and prerequisites of people with MS regarding the focus, the form and content of the rehabilitation modules are of utmost importance for the development of suitable care.
These are registered by making use of surveys, mirror meetings with patients and healthcare professionals, and cognitive interviews with people with MS and form the foundation for the development of the new rehabilitation modules.

Focus groups with people with MS and healthcare professionals are used to determine the rehabilitation care modules. Results from the study about the perspectives of people with MS is implemented and used as a starting point. In the first meeting, the modules are developed, in following round the modules are evaluated and adapted, until consensus about the practicalities and content in reached.

After consensus is reached about the rehabilitation modules, the different modules will be evaluated. People with MS with visual complaints are offered the developed care. The aim of the rehabilitation care is to reduce the impact of visual complaints in daily life. Therefore, the effectivity of the modules is evaluated with PROMs and PREMs: patient-reported outcome and experience measures.