Tuesday, April 23, 2024
4/23/2024
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Applied Health Sciences proposes this five-year project to evaluate a multi-factorial intervention to reduce fear of falling and associated adverse effects in wheelchair users with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Specifically, the project goals are to conduct evaluations of feasibility, fidelity, and efficacy of a multi-factorial intervention in reducing fear of falling, improving falls self-efficacy, reducing activity avoidance and ultimately increasing community participation among wheelchair users with MS. Project objectives are to: 1) independently examine effects of 12-weeks of personalized seated posture control and transfer training (TX) and 12-weeks of personalized environment modifications (EM) on fear of falling, falls self-efficacy, activity curtailment and community participation; 2) examine intervention fidelity, TX and EM sequence effects, and improve protocol manuals; 3) examine efficacy and fidelity of the combined TX+EM intervention; 4) conduct a randomized case control trial to examine short term efficacy and long term retention of TX+EM intervention; and 5) disseminate findings to clinicians and wheelchair users with MS. Anticipated outcomes are that the increased evidence base on these interventions will inform design of multifactorial falls and fear of falling prevention programs for wheelchair users with MS. Over the longer term, when these personalized interventions are integrated with training programs for new wheelchair users, they will reduce fear of falling related activity avoidance behaviors and positively impact community participation and health related quality of life. Products of this five-year project will be evidence-based intervention manuals, evidence on the intervention effectiveness in impacting fear of falling and related outcomes, and effect sizes to power future multi-site randomized trials.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
