TY - JOUR
TI - Pythagorean Self-Awareness Intervention for Multiple Sclerosis Patients:
A Quasi-Experimental Pragmatic Trial
AU - Panagopoulou, Zacharo
AU - Artemiadis, Artemios K.
AU - Chrousos, George
AU - P.
AU - Darviri, Christina
AU - Anagnostouli, Maria C.
JO - Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology (before 2009)
PY - 2022
VL - 37
TODO - 1
SP - 125-132
PB - Oxford University Press
SN - 0887-6177
TODO - 10.1093/arclin/acab044
TODO - Stress; Quasi-experimental; Multiple sclerosis; Intervention; Fatigue;
Cognitive function
TODO - Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder of the
central nervous system affecting patients' well-being and quality of
life. Pythagorean Self-Awareness Intervention (PSAI) is a novel
non-pharmaceutical intervention with significant benefits both in MS and
other chronic diseases. In this study, the longstanding effectiveness of
PSAI was investigated.
Method: This was a two-arm quasi-experimental pragmatic trial in
relapsing-remitting MS patients (23 in the PSAI and 21 in the control
group). PSAI patients received an 8-week training period and then they
performed PSAI at home for another 16 weeks. Assessments took place at
baseline, 8 weeks, and 24 weeks. These included cognition, fatigue,
perceived stress, and hair cortisol.
Results: Significant group x time interactions favoring PSAI were found
during the first 8-week period for information processing speed,
fatigue, and perceived stress. However, only verbal memory was found to
be significantly improved in the PSAI group during the 24-week follow-up
period. There were no significant group x time differences with respect
to hair cortisol. No side effects were noted and compliance was
excellent.
Conclusions: PSAI was mostly effective during the first 8-week training
period. Its benefits worn out during the non-training period, albeit we
observed a delayed significant improvement of verbal memory. Our
findings will help to further refine the technique, either by extending
the training period and/or by including booster sessions, throughout the
PSAI treatment. This study provided Class III evidence for PSAI.
ER -