Abstract
Results from a small study into the efficacy of a Multi-Convergent Therapy intervention for patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) had proved encouraging at the post-therapy and six-month follow-up time points. It was, however, important to re-evaluate these findings over a longer period. Eleven patients who had completed the original therapy trial responded to a follow-up call (91.7% response rate). Subjective data was returned by between 9 and 11 of the participants and 7 completed the objective measures. Participants in the current study completed a similar set of outcome measures as those used to assess treatment success previously. These data suggested that patients attending the therapy continued to show improvements in functioning, had lower levels of fatigue and disability, improved sleep quality and levels of activity and lower symptom scores at a three-year follow-up. The long-term efficacy for this treatment is suggested by these results. Multi-convergent therapy is indicated as a promising approach to the rehabilitation of CFS patients.
Highlights
1.1 Background Fatiguing illnesses are difficult to accurately assess and diagnose due to the symptom being largely subjective in nature
(as indicated above) the sample size for the study was small, a previous retrospective study suggested a recovery rate of 72% among those receiving Multi-convergent therapy (MCT) (Thomas, Sadlier & Smith, 2006) compared with 6% for untreated controls (Thomas & Smith, 2006). These findings indicated that a sample of 8 MCT recipients and 8 controls would have an 80% chance of detecting a treatment effect at the 5% level of statistical significance
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a condition which comes under the umbrella group of medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)
Summary
1.1 Background Fatiguing illnesses are difficult to accurately assess and diagnose due to the symptom being largely subjective in nature. The fatigue experienced in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is of sufficient severity to cause substantial functional impairment but it is accompanied by four or more co-existing symptoms including those of a cognitive or neuropsychiatric nature (Fukuda et al, 1994). Financial concerns have been raised regarding the increased uptake of unemployment benefits, and the drain on healthcare resources brought about by the illness (Reyes et al, 1999; Reynolds, Vernon, Bouchery & Reeves, 2004). For these reasons, the search to find a suitable treatment for this, often, debilitating illness became paramount
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
