ACT - Action, Communication and Treatment in Mult
Why use ACT?
The ACT Programme helps people with MS by making sure that they benefit in their daily living from:
Their healthcare professionals’ advice and expertise
Good communication with healthcare professionals
Positive self-management of the disease.
The aim of ACT is to help you to base your actions and choices about how to manage your MS on your understanding of the condition and the effect it has on your life; not on other people’s views of what “normally” happens or statistics. The empowerment provided by the ACT Programme is based on:
Quality information
Being clear and aware of the way you think about your disease (the ‘image’ you have about it)
Being clear and conscious of the actions you are currently taking to manage your condition
Being clear and conscious about other actions you could take to help you manage the condition
Being clear and conscious of any prescribed medicine you might be taking
Making meetings with healthcare professionals involved in your care as meaningful as possible
Learning from other people who have been through similar experiences.
The basis of ACT is the psychological interaction between your own thoughts and emotions around the disease and your decisions about alternatives in your daily life and the treatment of the MS. These elements can be explained as follows:
Awareness & Perception
Thoughts, feelings about MS, symptoms, causes, time course of the disease, consequences, possible treatments
Decisions & Actions
Coping with problems and feelings. Consideration of pros and cons/selection of alternatives for daily life and in treatment
Reappraisal & Evaluation
Evaluation of the decisions made, abandoning unsuccessful paths, changing one’s own thinking and feeling
