Predictors of Patient Activation among Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54133/ajms.v10i2.2901Keywords:
Cross-sectional study, Multiple sclerosis , Patient activation , PAM-13, Self-managementAbstract
Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease that requires long-term self-management and active patient engagement. Patient activation reflects an individual’s knowledge, confidence, and skills to manage their health, yet evidence in MS populations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, remains limited. Objective: To determine the level of patient activation in people with MS and investigate its connection with demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out on 100 individuals diagnosed with MS and admitted to a specialized MS center of Baghdad Teaching Hospital. The Patient Activation Measure (PAM-13) was used to measure patient activation. The demographic and clinical factors were represented by age, gender, educational attainment, marital status, residential status, and level of disability assessed by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Results: The average age of the participants was 33.98±10.4 years, with an average PAM-13 score of 77.18±3.83. The majority (98%) of the participants fell to the highest level of activation (level 4). Patient activation did not have any significant association with demographic or clinical variables. Conclusions: Patients with MS were highly patient activated, which means that they were very active in the self-management of the disease.
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