Energee

About the project

Chronic fatigue is reported by patients of many long term conditions, e.g. Arthritis, Cancer, Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, as one of the most debilitating symptoms they experience. Surprisingly there is only 1 app dedicated to addressing its management in Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

CATCH and Occupational Therapy are collaborating to develop a Platform App to manage disease associated Chronic Fatigue. The intention is that the app will present a patient with disease appropriate information and tools. A cross disease systematic review of the literature is under way.

The physiological and psychological understanding of what causes Chronic Fatigue are not well enough developed to claim there are interventions based on understanding its causes. However there are some randomised controlled trials that have delivered positive outcomes. Our focus so far has been on therapeutic rather than pharmacological based interventions.

A specific focus on Multiple Sclerosis (MS) working with Neurology has developed through clinicians and people with MS seeing a real potential in an app that would help them manage chronic fatigue. A mock-up app employed in user centred discussions has delivered an informed draft app specification. The next steps are user centred design and evaluation; leading to trialling a CE marked product.

In addition, improving the understanding of causes and mechanisms of chronic fatigue across diseases is being explored through the use of physiological measurements