Outcomes of a Peer Support Program in Multiple Sclerosis in an Australian Community Cohort: A Prospective Study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background/Objectives. This pilot study evaluated the impact of a peer support program on improving multiple sclerosis (MS) related psychological functions (depression, anxiety, and stress) and enhancing quality of life. Methodology. Participants (n = 33) were recruited prospectively and received an 8-week group face-to-face peer support program. Assessments were at baseline (T1), 6 weeks after program (T2), and 12 months after program (T3), using validated questionnaires: Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), McGill Quality of Life (MQOL), and Brief COPE. Results. Participants' mean age was 52; the majority were female (64%) and married (64%). Median time since MS diagnosis was 16 years. At T2, participants reported improved psychological functioning (DASS "depression," "anxiety," and "stress" subscales, z values -2.36, -2.22, and -2.54, moderate effect sizes (r) 0.29, 0.28, and 0.32, resp.) and quality of life (MQOL SIS z score -2.07, r = 0.26) and were less likely to use "self-blame" as a coping mechanism (Brief COPE z score -2.37, r = 0.29). At T3, the positive improvements in stress (DASS stress subscale z score -2.41, r = 0.31) and quality of life were maintained (MQOL SIS, z score -2.30, r = 0.29). There were no adverse effects reported.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".