An app to beat fatigue

Professor Paula Kersten, the University of Brighton’s Professor of Rehabilitation, is part of the research team with colleagues at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, where Professor Kersten previously worked, and Bournemouth University.

There are more than 100,000 people with Multiple Sclerosis in the UK and 100 people are diagnosed every week. A large percentage suffer extreme lethargy but research has shown that the app ‘MS Energise’ can provide a positive strategy to combat the problem.

Researchers found that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) helped people with MS cope better by changing the way they think and behave. They then adapted face-to-face CBT into a digital, self-guided format.

Paula Kersten with the MS Energise app

Professor Kersten, Head of the University of Brighton’s School of Health Sciences, said: “Users who download the app are asked to complete interactive tasks to help them cope better with their fatigue and to record their progress through visual summaries.”

Dr van Kessel from AUT University said: “Feedback from field testing so far has been very positive and participants have told us there is nothing else like MS Energise on offer.”

The iPhone app was made available to download in New Zealand earlier this year and has become available in the UK today . Researchers are also planning to launch the app in Canada, Ireland, Australia and the USA.