How People with Multiple Sclerosis Rate Their Quality of Life: An EQ-5D Survey via the UK MS Register

The EQ-5D is a widely-used, standardised, quality of life measure producing health profiles, indices and states. The aims of this study were to assess the role of various factors in how people with Multiple Sclerosis rate their quality of life, based on responses to the EQ-5D received via the web portal of the UK MS Register.The 4516 responses to the EQ-5D (between May 2011 and April 2012) were collated with basic demographic and descriptive MS data and the resulting dataset was analysed in SPSS (v.20).The mean health state for people with MS was 59.73 (SD 22.4, median 61), compared to the UK population mean of 82.48 (which is approximately 1SD above the cohort mean). The characteristics of respondents with high health states (at or above +1SD) were: better health profiles (most predictive dimension: Usual Activities), higher health indices, younger age, shorter durations of MS, female gender, relapsing-remitting MS, higher educational attainment and being in paid employment (all p-values<0.001). Conversely, the characteristics of respondents with low health states (at or below -1SD) were: poorer health profiles (most predictive dimension: Mobility), lower health indices, older age, longer durations of MS, male gender, progressive MS, lower educational attainment and having an employment status of sick/disabled (p = 0.0014 for age, all other p-values<0.001). Particular living arrangements were not associated with either the high or low health status groups.This large-scale study has enabled in-depth analyses on how people with MS rate their quality of life, and it provides new knowledge on the various factors that contribute to their self-assessed health status. These findings demonstrate the impact of MS on quality of life, and they can be used to inform care provision and further research, to work towards enhancing the quality of life of people with MS

Lost in Music: Mapping the 21st Century House Music Event Experience

The shift towards the DJ as a mainstream performer challenges the possibilities of the live music eventscape. House music – a specific form of electronic music – represents a current trend in the UK, and this paper explores the nature of its consumption as a live event experience different to other types of music events. It aims to demonstrate the unique reality of an event as a combination of experiences (e.g. Petterson & Getz, 2009. Event Experiences in Time and Space: A Study of Visitors to the 2007 World Alpine Ski Championships in Åre, Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 9(2-3), 308–326.); arguably this can only be truly conceptualised by the individual, and so the ‘Event Experience Mapping Model’ (EEMM) methodology has been designed to conceptualise an individual’s sensory and emotional ‘immersion’ within the eventscape. This is done primarily in the context of recreational habits, emotional responses and social engagement, thus combining multiple facets of event experience within one study in the milieu of twenty-first century house music. The EEMM used a questionnaire to garner broad themes associated with this event type; this produced an ‘Experience Matrix’ which can then be completed by an individual to produce an individual ‘Experience Map’. Key to this principle is that this ‘map’ this will differ from person to person and thus the EEMM allows for this to be expressed in an individual ‘map’. The map demonstrates the intersections of four aspects of experience and thus plots which aspects are more/ less prevalent within that individual’s experience