THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EXERCISE SELF EFFICACY AND ADHERENCE TO HOME-BASED EXERCISE IN PEOPLE WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS IN SAUDI ARABIA

B. Alosaimi1, M. Almarwani1
1King Saud University, Health Rehabilitation Sciences Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: Exercise adherence in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) can be increased by determining the factors associated with exercise adaptation and maintenance. Exercise self-efficacy (ESE) is an important factor affecting adherence to treatment. However, few studies have examined the association between ESE and adherence to the home exercise program (HEP) in pwMS.

Purpose: This study is the first study in Saudi Arabia to examine the association between ESE and adherence to exercise in a home setting in pwMS. Herein, we examined the association between exercise self-efficacy, disability severity, fatigue, and recent fall experience with adherence to the home exercise program in Saudi people with multiple sclerosis.

Methods: We applied an observational cross-sectional study design, a convenient sampling technique, to recruit 40 Saudi participants from King Saud Medical City and King Salman Social Center, aged 18 years or older, currently participating in HEP three times or more/week, and diagnosed with multiple sclerosis by a neurologist. Data were collected via an online form consisting of two sections: participants' demographic data and Arabic ESE scale, Patient Determined Disease Steps (PDDS) and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). In addition, hard or soft copies of the exercise diary were used to measure the participants’ adherence to HEP for 14 days. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software.

Results: Half of our sample reported a PT HEP adherence of 49%.We found a strong, significant positive correlation between HEP adherence and ESE (r=.70, p<.01), and a weak, moderate negative significant correlation of FSS and PDDS with HEP(r=-38, -41, p=.01). Inspection of the coefficients of multiple linear regression indicated that only ESE was a statistically significant predictor of HEP adherence rate (β= 0. .65,P < 0.01).

Conclusions: MS can lead to permanent disability. The current study revealed that ESE is an important predictor of exercise adherence in pwMS, and could explain most of the variance in the physical aspect of PT management in home-based exercises.

Implications:
  • Exercise Self Efficacy (ESE) is an important predictor of exercise adherence in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS), explaining the most of the variables in the physical aspect of Physical Therapy management in the home setting in Saudi Arabia.
  • Saudi pwMS had low level of ESE associated with a reduced exercise adherence rate in home setting.
  • Exercise self-efficacy should be considered by physical therapists to provide optimum treatment to people with multiple sclerosis to allow the best management of symptoms as the disease progresses.
  • Various types of ESE experience can be manipulated by physical therapist to improve an individual adherence to their HEP.

Funding acknowledgements: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Keywords:
Multiple sclerosis
Exercise self-efficacy
Home-based exercise

Topics:
Neurology
Neurology: multiple sclerosis
Disability & rehabilitation

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Committee: Scientific Ethics Committee
Ethics number: E-21-6491

All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.

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