Researchers at the Vrije University Amsterdam are seeking participants for a study looking at the work life of employees with multiple sclerosis. They are investigating the links between the perceived severity of MS symptoms and the perception the work environment and work outcomes. Researchers seek to analyze how individual differences and organizational resources may affect the associations between MS and work.

After signing up for this study participants can immediately start with the first questionnaire, which will take about 35 minutes. After one and two months, you will receive the links to the follow-up questionnaires via e-mail. The two follow-up questionnaires have an approximate duration of 20 minutes each. Researchers will require an e-mail address to send follow-up questionnaires to participants. The questionnaires can be viewed and answered on all standard internet browsers on laptops, tablets, or smartphones. Participants are asked to finish the questionnaire within one week of receiving the study link.

Participating in the study take about an hour and 15 minutes of your time across a time span of two months. Participation in the study is voluntary. Your participation in the study will end when all measurements are over, or if you choose to stop at an earlier point. If you decide to abort your participation in the study, you can do so at any point in time without notifying the researchers. You do not need to give a reason for discontinuing the study. The data collected up to that point will be used for the investigation. 

After the data assessment is completed, participants will receive a debriefing form including a list of the hypotheses and a list of all variables and questionnaires used in the study. After processing the data, participants will further receive a descriptive summary of the study results.

For this research, researchers will collect and use personal data. This includes age, gender, education and occupational background, as well as information about your perceived health status and MS diagnosis. All data is collected from participants on a voluntary basis and will be used for research purposes only.

E-mail addresses will only be used to send the links to the questionnaires and to allocate the responses of the follow-up questionnaires to the first measurement. It will be deleted immediately after the data assessment is finalized and permanently deleted from the university server as soon as the descriptive summary of the study results is sent out to the participants. Your e-mail address will not be given to any third parties.

Access to the study data is limited to the study researchers. The data collected in the surveys will be stored on servers at the VU Amsterdam for 10 years. By agreeing to participate, participants consent to the collection, storage and access of their personal data.

For more information contact Dr. Alexandra Cook at a.r.cook@vu.nl.

MS Focus has no part in the study and is providing the information as a service and to encourage participation in research.