Neuropsychological Management of Multiple Sclerosis: Benefits of a Computerised Semi-autonomous At-home Cognitive Rehabilitation Programme
Neuropsychological Management of Multiple Sclerosis: Benefits of a Computerised Semi-autonomous At-home Cognitive Rehabilitation Programme
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a central nervous system inflammatory disease that causes a chronic and progressive physical handicap. Though primarily considered as a motor disease, it may, in 40 to 65% of cases, cause cognitive function deficits, concerning mainly attention, information processing speed, executive functions and memory. The impairment of these various functions may significantly impair the patients' social, professional and family lives. As such, the presence of cognitive difficulties is more frequently associated with the onset of anxio-depressive psychiatric symptoms and with reduced quality of life to the extent that it can be estimated via psychometric scales, or by a more qualitative approach. Recent research has focused, not on demonstrating the existence of cognitive disorders in MS, but rather on attempting to reduce their daily impact through cognitive rehabilitation programmes. While encouraging, the available results are relatively discordant and further work is required to demonstrate the actual efficacy of such programmes applied to daily life and of their long-term effects.
The main objective of this work is to evaluate, in patients suffering from MS and presenting with cognitive disorders and/or with complaints, the effect of an innovative computerised, semi-autonomous at-home cognitive rehabilitation programme, following care, on quality of life. The secondary objective is to estimate the improvement, or even stabilisation over time, of patients' cognitive performance and psycho-affective sphere.
In this randomised trial, the investigators plan to include 40 patients suffering from the RR and SP forms of MS, distributed to two groups paired by age, gender and socio-cultural level, one of which will benefit from computerised management, along with at-home support from a psychologist, while the other receives only the support.
This work is expected to provide two types of benefits. Firstly, to enable patients to better understand their cognitive function via daily management and as such to improve their quality of life and self-esteem. Secondly, to eventually allow more appropriate patient management by combining the quasi-systematic use of this programme with follow-up consultations with referring practitioners (neurologists, psychologists, etc.).
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