Providing care for a person with MS has a major impact on all areas of the caregiver's life. Perceived social support has been shown to have a beneficial impact on the caregiver. Limitations in design and variation in methodology of studies limits the generalizability of findings. There is a need for further research, in particular the development of reliable and valid disease-specific caregiver assessment instruments.

The aim of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of a group of caregivers of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Sixteen caregivers from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland participated in focus group interviews. The theme of support, either sought or received, emerged as a major aspect of the experiences described. Caregivers' feelings about, and experiences of, support appeared to change over time. Four common phases that caregivers experienced in relation to support were identified as: 'rejecting', 'resisting, 'seeking' and 'accepting' support. This paper will present and discuss these four phases. The study findings highlight the complexity of issues surrounding a caregiver's decision to seek and accept support. It is hoped that the phases identified within this study are useful in depicting how caregivers of people with MS may progress through stages in their desire for, and acceptance of support. Findings from this study are useful to healthcare professionals who work with people with MS and their caregivers by increasing awareness that a caregiver's attitude toward and acceptance of support changes over time.

This systematic review examined the physical and cognitive effects of physically based interactive computer games (ICGs) in older adults. Literature searching was carried out from January 2000 to June 2011. Eligible studies were trials involving older adults (>65 years) describing the effects of ICGs with a physical component (aerobic, strength, balance, flexibility) on physical or cognitive outcomes. Secondary outcomes included adverse effects, compliance, and enjoyment. Twelve trials met the inclusion criteria. ICG interventions varied in terms of software, game type, and nature of the computer interaction. Although there was preliminary evidence that ICG is a safe and effective exercise intervention for older adults, the dearth of high-quality evidence limits this finding. No major adverse effects were reported and two studies reported minor events. ICG could be improved further by tailoring interventions for older adults; in particular, they should aim to optimize participant safety, motivation, and enjoyment for this population.

BackgroundIndividuals with persistent musculoskeletal pain (PMP) have an increased risk of developing co-morbid health conditions and for early-mortality compared to those without pain. Despite irrefutable evidence supporting the role of physical activity in reducing these risks; there has been limited synthesis of the evidence, potentially impacting the optimisation of these forms of interventions. This review examines the effectiveness of interventions in improving levels of physical activity and the components of these interventions.MethodsRandomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials were included in this review. The following databases were searched from inception to March 2016: CENTRAL in the Cochrane Library, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and AMED. Two reviewers independently screened citations, assessed eligibility, extracted data, assessed risk of bias and coded intervention content using the behaviour change taxonomy (BCTTv1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques. GRADE was used to rate the quality of the evidence.ResultsThe full text of 276 articles were assessed for eligibility, twenty studies involving 3441 participants were included in the review. Across the studies the mean number of BCTs coded was eight (range 0–16); with ‘goal setting’ and ‘instruction on how to perform the behaviour’ most frequently coded. For measures of subjective physical activity: interventions were ineffective in the short term, based on very low quality evidence; had a small effect in the medium term based on low quality evidence (SMD 0.25, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.48) and had a small effect in the longer term (SMD 0.21 95% CI 0.08 to 0.33) based on moderate quality evidence. For measures of objective physical activity: interventions were ineffective - based on very low to low quality evidence.ConclusionsThere is some evidence supporting the effectiveness of interventions in improving subjectively measured physical activity however, the evidence is mostly based on low quality studies and the effects are small. Given the quality of the evidence, further research is likely/very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in effect estimates and is likely to change the estimates. Future studies should provide details on intervention components and incorporate objective measures of physical activity.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12891-017-1836-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Elevating clients' feet and reclining their chair by 30 degrees reduced interface pressure and the associated risk of pressure ulcer development. Additional research is required, however, to replicate this study with participants at increased risk of pressure ulcer development.