About

The MS Decision Aid has been developed for patient with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who are considering their first disease modifying therapy, or switching to a different first line therapy.

Development

The decision aid has been developed according to the IPDAS guidelines.(1)

We began with focus groups of patients that demonstrated patients have different preferences.(2)

We then integrated evidence from the MS Society of Canada,(3) and a report by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.(4)

We used an interactive web based system called DECIDApp to develop the decision aid.(5)

We have conducted considerable usability testing, with patients online, patients in focus groups, and clinicians.(6) The decision aid has been updated with this feedback.

We are currently testing the efficacy of the decision aid in improving adherence in a small trial.(7)

Contact Us

Email nick [dot] bansback [at] ubc [dot] ca for further information.

Funding

The decision aid has been funded through the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.

References

1. Coulter A., Stilwell D., Kryworuchko J., Mullen P. D., Ng C. J., & van der Weijden T. (2013). A systematic development process for patient decision aids. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 13, S2.

2. Lynd, L. D., Traboulsee, A., Marra, C. A., Mittmann, N., Evans, C., Li, K. H., Carter, M. & Hategekimana, C. (2016). Quantitative analysis of multiple sclerosis patients’ preferences for drug treatment: A best-worst scaling study. Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders, 4, 287-296.

3. Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (2017). MS Society of Canada. Retrieved from: https://mssociety.ca

4. CADTH. Comparative Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness of Drug Therapies for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. Therapeutic Review. Clinical and Economic Report. October 2013 — Volume 1, Issue 2B. Updated March 2014

5. Bansback N, Li LC, Lynd L, Bryan S. Development and preliminary user testing of the DCIDA (Dynamic computer interactive decision application) for ‘nudging’patients towards high quality decisions. BMC medical informatics and decision making. 2014 Aug 1;14(1):62.

6. Lapointe E, Bansback N, Chiu J, Lynd L, Traboulsee AL, Carruthers R. Pilot results of a web based patient decision aid for first-line treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients. European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis. 2017

7. https://www.vchri.ca/feature-stories/articles/2017/06/07/tackling-health-care-challenges-through-research-mentorship