Crisis resilience in people with multiple sclerosis (C-RIMS)

• A/Prof Claudia Marck

  claudia.marck@unimelb.edu.au
  

Project Details

Following the Black Summer Bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, a pilot project led by Claudia Marck was funded by the Melbourne Disability Institute to better understand the impact of these crises on the health and wellbeing, and access to healthcare and services for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). This led to a subsequent 3-year project funded by MS Australia, Crisis Resilience in MS, where it was identified that the MS community had various concerns about how crises like bushfires and the pandemic affected them, with these events having a direct impact on health behaviours and health outcomes.

As part of this program of work, a study using data from the Australian MS Longitudinal Study (AMSLS) showed that over a third of people living with MS they would like to develop or update their crisis plans, and that a third of those need help with this. Following workshops with MS community stakeholders, the Australian Red Cross RediPlan was selected as a useful crisis‑planning resource to build on. The RediPlan recommends practical actions such as choosing an alternate place to stay, learning local hazards, managing stress, discussing emergency telehealth, and practising an emergency plan. In partnership with Australian Red Cross, MS community stakeholders and researchers from our team led by A/Prof Learmonth developed a tailored “Crisis Toolkit” for people with disabilities or chronic conditions, including MS. An initial evaluation found that people with MS completed more preparedness actions when they used the Crisis Toolkit with support from an MS nurse than with the RediPlan alone. Examples of completed actions included organising an evacuation strategy taking into account mobility aids, swapping phone numbers with neighbours, preparing an emergency kit. Participants also reported feeling more resilient, more confident in emergency response, and better able to maintain contact with healthcare providers. This Crisis Toolkit is now freely available on the MS Australia website and was downloaded 1800 times within the first 6 months.

Further links to this work:

• IJMSC Author spotlight. Nov 2025 https://www.ijmsc.org/view/ijmsc-author-spotlight-learmonth-marck
• Webinar: Preparing for emergencies and extreme conditions for people with multiple sclerosis. MS Plus 2024 https://youtu.be/A8pF6fqqdOs?si=KzYRAqwOuvhb3xox
• Blog: Concerns and priorities of the MS community during times of crises. 2022. Multiple Sclerosis Australia website and newsletter. https://www.msaustralia.org.au/news/concerns-and-priorities-ms-community-during-times-of-crises/

Researchers

A/Prof Claudia Marck, Disability and Health Unit, University of Melbourne
Professor Lisa Gibbs, Child and Community Well being Unit, University of Melbourne
Dr Assunta Hunter, Disability and Health Unit, University of Melbourne

Collaborators

A/Prof Yvonne Learmonth, University of New South Wales
Antonia Mackay from the Australian Red Cross
Professor Diana Walker, University of Western Australia
Dr Petra Skeffington, University of Western Australia
Professor Allan Kermode, Department of Neurology, Murdoch University
A/Professor Ingrid van der Mei, Menzies Institute, University of Western Australia
Dr Therese Burke, Notre Dame University
Jocelyn Tan, Murdoch University

Funding

Melbourne Disability Institute and Centre for Health Equity, University of Melbourne

Research Outcomes

View the toolkit: Crisis Toolkit for persons with MS

Find out more: Crisis resilience in persons with MS