The relationship among performance of instrumental activities of daily living, self-report of quality of life, and self-awareness of functional status in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between self-awareness of functional status and performance of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), and self-reports of quality of life (QOL) in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS).

DESIGN

A between-groups design, using a correlational approach to examine the relationship between self-awareness of functional status, IADL and QOL.

PARTICIPANTS

We studied 47 individuals with clinically definite MS and 26 healthy controls (HCs).

MEASURES

The Functional Behavior Profile was completed by both participants and their informants. Participants' scores were subtracted from those of their informants', and the absolute value was used as the self-awareness/concordance score. The Executive Function Performance Test measured IADL performance; QOL was measured with the Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis.

RESULTS

MS participants showed lower levels of self-awareness relative to HCs. Significant correlations were observed between performance of IADL, reports of QOL and self-awareness levels of functional status. However, reports of QOL were not significantly correlated with performance of IADL.

CONCLUSIONS

The positive association between self-awareness of functional status with IADL performance and QOL reports provides support for the role of awareness in rehabilitation.