Objective: To investigate the relationship between self-awareness of functional status and performance of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), and self-reports of quality of life (QOL) in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Design: A between-groups design, using a correlational approach to examine the relationship between self-awareness of functional status, IADL and QOL.
Participants: We studied 47 individuals with clinically definite MS and 26 healthy controls (HCs).
Measures: The Functional Behavior Profile was completed by both participants and their informants. Participants' scores were subtracted from those of their informants', and the absolute value was used as the self-awareness/concordance score. The Executive Function Performance Test measured IADL performance; QOL was measured with the Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis.
Results: MS participants showed lower levels of self-awareness relative to HCs. Significant correlations were observed between performance of IADL, reports of QOL and self-awareness levels of functional status. However, reports of QOL were not significantly correlated with performance of IADL.
Conclusions: The positive association between self-awareness of functional status with IADL performance and QOL reports provides support for the role of awareness in rehabilitation.