There are 2.8 million people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) worldwide. Since there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, PwMS need to perform self-management daily, such as physical activity, healthy eating, and emotion regulation. Self-efficacy, an individual’s belief about their capabilities to implement behavior needed to reach a goal, is the long-term determinant of the health and well-being of PwMS. There are no existing m-health apps that focus on enhancing self-efficacy for PwMS. The overarching goal of our project is to develop a theory-driven, patient-centered sociotechnical solution to empower PwMS to cultivate and maintain their self-efficacy for performing different self-management activities. There are two objectives of our proposal. The first objective is to develop an innovative multiple types of phase-specific self-efficacy eIntervention, TOP-SEE. We will bridge three theories—Individual and Family Self-Management Theory, Self-Efficacy Theory, and Health Action Process Approach, use computational algorithms, behavior change journal and mindfulness chatbot, and utilize patient-centered data (e.g., patient-reported outcomes, information search behavior) to build and validate new functions of TOP-SEE in our already developed SavvyHealth prototype. The second objective is to use a randomized controlled trial with follow-up to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of TOP-SEE on self-efficacy among 136 PwMS. The expected outcomes are 1) TOP-SEE has high feasibility and acceptability among PwMS, caregivers, and clinicians; and 2) TOP-SEE effectively increases users’ self-efficacy in performing self-management activities. The deliverables include 1) the TOP-SEE eIntervention cultivating different types of self-efficacy in the motivational and volitional phases; and 2) an advanced SavvyHealth app with newly developed functions to implement TOP-SEE.
