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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease with an increasing prevalence. As such, most studies are devoted to various medical aspects of the disease. The theoretical framework used in this scoping review was the social model of disability - a perspective focusing on environmental barriers and discrimination that disabled people face in society. The aim was to explore previous research on disabling barriers and discrimination against persons with MS, and to identify research gaps in connection with this population. The scoping review was performed in two steps: (1) a main search in 8 databases, followed by (2) citation and reference searches. The final sample consisted of 96 included articles. The result showed that most studies had been conducted in the US, and the dominant area of research was employment discrimination. Previous research has studied MS related to various areas, such as employment, social welfare and social services, transportation, housing and accessibility of public places, health services, and in relation to others within society. However, this scoping review showed that although several areas of disability and MS had been included in the previous research, most of the identified areas were researched in few studies without the possibility to generalize the findings to a larger population or a cross-cultural context. Few studies compared differences between persons with MS based on gender, age, and ethnicity. What impact the invisible symptoms of MS had on disability was also researched to a limited extent. The findings have implications for future research and clinical practice. To better understand living conditions for persons with MS from a global perspective, more research across countries is needed. Healthcare professionals need to assess the individuals situation both of the disease and the of societal barriers and discrimination to care of with MS.

Aims and objectives To analyse frail older peoples views of quality of care when receiving a comprehensive continuum of care intervention, compared with those of people receiving the usual care (control group). The intervention included early geriatric assessment, case management, interprofessional collaboration, support for relatives and organising of care-planning meetings in older peoples own homes. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanBackground Prior studies indicate that tailored/individualised care planning conducted by a case manager/coordinator often led to greater satisfaction with care planning among older people. However, there is no obvious evidence of any effects of continuum of care interventions on older peoples views of quality of care. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanDesign Randomised controlled study. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanMethods Items based on a validated questionnaire were used in face-to-face interviews to assess older peoples views of quality of care at three, six and 12months after baseline. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanResults Older people receiving a comprehensive continuum of care intervention perceived higher quality of care on items about care planning (p0005), compared with those receiving the usual care. In addition, they had increased knowledge of whom to contact about care/service, after three and 12months (pandlt;003). less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanConclusions The study gives evidence of the advantages of a combination of components such as organising care-planning meetings in older peoples own homes, case management and interprofessional teamwork. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanRelevance to clinical practice The results have implications for policymakers, managers and professionals in the area of health and social care for older people to meet individual needs of frail older people.

Introduction: Care-planning meetings represent a common method of needs assessment and decision-making practices in elderly care. Older peoples influence is an important and required aspect of these practices. This studys objective was to describe and analyse older peoples influence on care-planning meetings at home and in hospital. Methods: Ten care-planning meetings were audio-recorded in the older peoples homes and nine were recorded in hospital. The study is part of a project including a comprehensive continuum-of-care model. A qualitative content analysis was performed. Results: Care-planning meetings at home appeared to enable older peoples involvement in the discussions. Fewer people participated in the meetings at home and there was less parallel talking. Unrelated to the place of the care-planning meeting, the older people were able to influence concerns relating to the amount of care/service and the choice of provider. However, they were not able to influence the way the help should be provided or organised. Conclusion: Planning care at home indicated an increase in involvement on the part of the older people, but this does not appear to be enough to obtain any real influence. Our findings call for attention to be paid to older peoples opportunities to receive care and services according to their individual needs and their potential for influencing their day-to-day provision of care and service.

BACKGROUND: The very old (80+) are often described as a "frail" group that is particularly exposed to diseases and functional disability. They are at great risk of losing the ability to manage their activities of daily living independently. A health-promoting intervention programme might prevent or delay dependence in activities of daily life and the development of functional decline. Studies have shown that those who benefit most from a health-promoting and disease-preventive programme are persons with no, or discrete, activity restrictions. The three-armed study "Elderly in the risk zone" is designed to evaluate if multi-dimensional and multi-professional educational senior meetings are more effective than preventive home visits, and if it is possible to prevent or delay deterioration if an intervention is made when the persons are not so frail. In this paper the study design, the intervention and the outcome measures as well as the baseline characteristics of the study participants are presented. METHODS/DESIGN: The study is a randomised three-armed single-blind controlled trial with follow-ups 3 months, 1 and 2 years. The study group should comprise a representative sample of pre-frail 80-year old persons still living at home in two municipalities of Gothenburg. To allow for drop-outs, it was estimated that a total of about 450 persons would need to be included in the study. The participants should live in their ordinary housing and not be dependent on the municipal home help service or care. Further, they should be independent of help from another person in activities of daily living and be cognitively intact, having a score of 25 or higher as assessed with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). DISCUSSION: We believe that the design of the study, the randomisation procedure, outcome measurements and the study protocol meetings should ensure the quality of the study. Furthermore, the multi-dimensionality of the intervention, the involvement of both the profe