National Survey Study of Barriers and Exercise/Physical Activity Participation

1. HIMSPA (Home-based Intervention of Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis in Physical Activity)

Principal Investigator: Dr. Miyoung Lee (miyoung.lee@oregonstate.edu)
Research Assistant: Ms. Alicia Dixon (dixona@onid.orst.edu)

Movement Studies of Disability Laboratory
Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences
Oregon State University

20 Women’s Building
Corvallis, OR97331
Phone: 541-737-5927

INFORMED CONSENT DOCUMENT

Background and Purpose of Study
Although increasing physical activity (PA) provides numerous health benefits, persons with MS do not meet current public health recommendations for PA. The lower activity levels of persons with MS may be related, in part, to the observation that MS symptoms are exacerbated by exercise-related increases in core body temperature (Motl, Snook, McAuley, Scott, & Hinkle, 2007), so that persons with MS are afraid of participating in PA. In addition to the concern of heat, persons with MS experience difficulty participating in PA due to lack of transportation, facilities, equipment, high cost, and lack of knowledge about how to exercise (Becker, Stuifbergen, & Sands, 1991; Ellis, Kosma, Cardinal, Bauer, & McCubbin, 2007).
The goal of this study is to investigate the feasibility and potential effectiveness of a motivational home-based physical activity (PA) intervention utilizing interactive communication technology in people with MS. There are two specific aims: (1) to examine the feasibility of a computer-based interactive PA counseling system in people with MS and (2) to determine the effectiveness of the motivational home-based PA intervention to increase physical activity and theory based mediators of PA behavior.

1. Research Procedures

Focus group: If you chose to participate in the focus group, you will be invited to the Movement Studies in Disability Laboratory at Oregon State University for this meeting. Based on the stage of MS progress, two or three focus groups with 3 to 4 participants with MS will be invited. The focus group will be able to investigate the level of PA, social support, barriers, equipment at home, hours of computer use, motivation of PA, preference of PA for maintaining healthy life, and so forth. An experienced expert (Dr. Nancy Rosenberg, an associate professor in Anthropology at OSU) in qualitative study methods will be in the focus group and the contents will be recorded by a digital recorder and note-taking. After the focus group meetings, the recorded contents will be transcribed and analyzed using qualitative analysis software, QSR NVivo (QSR International Pty Ltd, USA). It will take no longer than 2 hours.

Survey: If you would like to participate in conducting the survey, you will be asked to complete the survey online (surveymonkey.com) at your convenient place and time. It will investigate the current status related to PA with similar questions that would be asked in the focus group (e.g., preference of physical activity intervention, social support, barriers, equipment at home, hours of computer use, etc.). If you would like to complete the survey with paper and pencil, the researcher will send a hard copy of the survey with a return-stamped envelope to your home. It will take about 40 to 60 minutes to take the survey.

Intervention: If you are chosen to participate in the intervention, you will be randomly assigned to two conditions, (1) an interactive computer-based PA intervention and (2) control. If you are in the intervention group, interactive feedback will be provided by tailored individual counseling through computer-based communication system (e.g., Skype, yahoo, MSN messenger, etc.) based on transtheoretical model (TTM) and social cognitive theory (SCT), which allows participants and counselors to see and communicate each other. Counseling will follow “the stage-of-change-model” which consists of identifying stage of motivational readiness, identifying barriers and to assist the participants improving problem-solving skills (e.g., IDEA approach) and goal setting. Counseling sessions will be conducted once a week for the first month and every other week for the second month; then monthly over the remaining 4 months.

Research Procedures Focus group: If you chose to participate in the focus group, you will be invited to the Movement Studies in Disability Laboratory at Oregon State University for this meeting. Based on the stage of MS progress, two or three focus groups with 3 to 4 participants with MS will be invited. The focus group will be able to investigate the level of PA, social support, barriers, equipment at home, hours of computer use, motivation of PA, preference of PA for maintaining healthy life, and so forth. An experienced expert (Dr. Nancy Rosenberg, an associate professor in Anthropology at OSU) in qualitative study methods will be in the focus group and the contents will be recorded by a digital recorder and note-taking. After the focus group meetings, the recorded contents will be transcribed and analyzed using qualitative analysis software, QSR NVivo (QSR International Pty Ltd, USA). It will take no longer than 2 hours. Survey: If you would like to participate in conducting the survey, you will be asked to complete the survey online (surveymonkey.com) at your convenient place and time. It will investigate the current status related to PA with similar questions that would be asked in the focus group (e.g., preference of physical activity intervention, social support, barriers, equipment at home, hours of computer use, etc.). If you would like to complete the survey with paper and pencil, the researcher will send a hard copy of the survey with a return-stamped envelope to your home. It will take about 40 to 60 minutes to take the survey. Intervention: If you are chosen to participate in the intervention, you will be randomly assigned to two conditions, (1) an interactive computer-based PA intervention and (2) control. If you are in the intervention group, interactive feedback will be provided by tailored individual counseling through computer-based communication system (e.g., Skype, yahoo, MSN messenger, etc.) based on transtheoretical model (TTM) and social cognitive theory (SCT), which allows participants and counselors to see and communicate each other. Counseling will follow “the stage-of-change-model” which consists of identifying stage of motivational readiness, identifying barriers and to assist the participants improving problem-solving skills (e.g., IDEA approach) and goal setting. Counseling sessions will be conducted once a week for the first month and every other week for the second month; then monthly over the remaining 4 months.