Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of an Exercise-Based Patient Education Programme in People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study

Table 4

Quasi-experimental design outcomes in walking ability, QoL, fatigue, and self-efficacy for EG-all in baseline (T0/T0′), after the six-week ePEP (T1/T1′) and after the 12-week self-regulated training period (T2/T2′).

Variable	EG-all ()					Friedman; T0-T2; -score	Post hoc; T0-T1; -score; (effect size )	Post hoc; T0-T2; -score; (effect size )
	T0/T0′; (); mean ± SD; median (IQR)	T1/T1′; (); mean ± SD; median (IQR)	Percentage change; T0-T1	T2/T2′; (); mean ± SD; median (IQR)	Percentage change; T0-T2
TUG (s)	7.5 ± 1.5; 7.2 (6.1–8.8)	7.0 ± 1.4; 7.0 (5.7–7.7)		6.7 ± 1.1; 6.8 (5.8–7.6)			−2.45; (−0.46)	−2.76; (0.52)
6MWT (m)	494.3 ± 113.3; 488.1 (398.4–556.2)	516.5 ± 121.1; 506.2 (424.3–589.0)		539.0 ± 98.4; 543.5 (483.3–598.5)			−1.60; (−0.30)	−2.79; (−0.53)
FGA (score)	21.1 ± 5.6; 21.0 (16.5–26.0)	25.9 ± 3.7; 27.0 (22.8–29.0)		24.9 ± 4.3; 25.5 (22.0–29.0)			−3.20; (−0.60)	−2.59; (−0.49)
MusiQol (score)	68.1 ± 13.9; 69.2 (58.7–82.6)	76.0 ± 11.1; 77.5 (64.9–84.4)		74.7 ± 15.0; 73.9 (59.5–90.3)			−2.23; (−0.42)	−2.35; (−0.44)
WEIMuS (score)	22.9 ± 14.7; 26.5 (12.5–32.8)	18.6 ± 12.8; 17.0 (9.5–27.3)		20.6 ± 14.9; 18.5 (8.8–32.3)			−1.26; (−0.24)	−0.74; (−0.14)
mental fatigue (score)	9.2 ± 7.8; 7.0 (4.8–12.3)	8.5 ± 6.9; 7.5 (2.8–13.5)		9.5 ± 9.0; (1.5–14.0)			−0.77; (−0.14)	−0.45; (−0.08)
physical fatigue (score)	13.7 ± 9.2; 17.5 (4.8–22.0)	10.1 ± 7.0; 10.0 (4.8–13.3)		11.1 ± 7.8; 9.5 (4.5–20.0)			−1.56; (−0.29)	−1.91; (−0.36)
SSA (score)	4.7 ± 1.2; 4.9 (3.4–5.6)	4.5 ± 1.2; 4.5 (3.6–4.9)		4.9 ± 1.1; 4.9 (3.7–5.2)			−0.31; (−0.06)	−0.97; (−0.18)

Note. Positive percentage values indicate improvements and negative percentage values indicate declines; -scores were taken from results of Friedman test; -scores were taken from results of Wilcoxon Signed Rank test. Effect size r was computed using formula /square root of ; denotes statistical significance () for exact values of Friedman test (two-tailed) or exact value of Wilcoxon Signed Rank test (two-tailed) with Bonferroni adjustment for three measurements; EG-all: all participants receiving ePEP (EG-I + EG-W); T0/T0′: baseline measurements; T1/T1′: measurements after six-week ePEP; T2/T2′: measurements after 12-week self-regulated training period; SD: standard deviation; IQR: interquartile range (25th–75th); TUG: Timed-Up-and-Go-Test; 6MWT: Six-Minute-Walk-Test; FGA: Functional Gait Assessment; MusiQol: Multiple Sclerosis International Questionnaire of Quality of Life; WEIMuS: German MS-specific fatigue questionnaire—lower values indicate fatigue improvement; SSA: scale for self-efficacy towards physical exercise.