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of their personal physician. The sessions were held
once a week for 90 minutes, over a period of seven
weeks.
The IPPA objective is to promote autonomous
physical activity visa a better well being. Each
session aimed: to stimulate group discussion about a
theme related to inability or limitation in physical
activity; to discuss strategies to minimize these
limitations; to define and learn appropriate physical
activities to implement between sessions.
We focus a set of exercises to be used in daily
life activities, according to studies developed with
MS patients (Howe, Gomperts, 2006; Khan, Turner-
Stokes, Kilpatrick , 2007; Rietberg, Brooks,
Uitdehaag, Kwakkel, 2005; Stuifbergen, Blozis,
Harrison, Becker, 2006; White, Dressendorfer ,
2004 ).
The application of the program followed the self
regulation model (Maes & Karol, 2005). This model
includes three procedural phases: the first phase, the
individuals identify and define personal goals they
wish to achieve; the second phase they implement
strategies to achieve pre-set goals; the third phase
they assess if they reach the intended objectives, as
well as maintenance.
The assessment of variables used one question
for disease severity, “Please classify your
functionality?” with an answer in numerical scale
between “0” and “11” and the Personal Wellbeing
Scale (PWS) (Pais Ribeiro & Cummins, 2008), a
one dimensional scale including seven questions
with a classification between “0” and “100”, to
assess well being, at the beginning (time A) and end
(time B) of the IPPA.
We used the Spearman correlation between the
functionality and Wellbeing scale. We used the
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 20. The intervention followed the
recommendations of the Helsinki Declaration.
3 RESULTS
The age range of the subjects was between 20 and
58 years with a mean age of 44 years. 58.3 % were
women, 37.5 % were currently married, 67% were
retired and the mean level of education was 12.5
years.
The Results the correlations between the
functionality perception and well-being, before
application of IPPA (r=0.47, p<0.01), and the end
of the implementation of IPPA (r=0.63, p<0.01).
The results show that the IPPA improves the
correlation between functionality and well-being.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The IPPA can play an important role in modifying
the perception of functionality and personal
wellbeing. Initial hypothesis where confirmed. We
think this program promotion and awareness of the
importance of physical activity, using the conceptual
model of self-regulation, can be very beneficial for
the prevention of disabilities you stay in people with
MS.
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