A message from Dr Rod Middleton:
We recently added a new questionnaire to the Autumn Window of the UK MS Register; it’s called the ‘Media and Technology Usage Scale’. We wanted to ask this for a few reasons, but I should address the elephant in the room first: what has this got to do with MS?
It’s a good question, but not a straightforward answer. We know that the use of technology is changing across all age groups, but the impact of this technology on our physical and mental health is still being worked out. Very little research has been done on these impacts in MS, so by asking these questions we can at least start to work out what the state of play is amongst participants of the UK MS Register. We can also link responses with the other questionnaires that we ask and see if there are connections between disability, anxiety, fatigue, or any of the other areas that we capture data on.
We know that it’s a long questionnaire. The original Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale was published in 2013, and clearly things have changed since then. However, it’s important in all research to use a validated instrument that has been established in previous studies, so that we have a reliable baseline to compare against.
We also know that it’s really difficult to quantify what counts as ‘Social Networking’. For example, WhatsApp is seen by most people as primarily a text message replacement, which is social, but it also features access to communities, clubs, and chat groups that go well beyond the one-to-one nature of traditional text messaging.
To address this, we have added a few extra questions at the bottom of the questionnaire to bring it up to date (covering screen time and a list of current social networks), as well as a question on how we as the Register can best stay in touch with you in the future.
We hope this addresses some of the questions you may have about why we’re asking this. We know it’s not a perfect instrument that adequately captures everything about your use of technology, but it will give us more insights into technology use in MS than anyone else has ever had.
We will of course keep you up to date with any data or publications that come out of this work. We want to thank you all for your time and efforts, as participants of the UK MS Register you are making a huge difference to MS research in the UK. As always, you can get in touch with us at contact@ukmsregister.org, and the team and I are always delighted to hear from you.
