Perceptions of women with multiple sclerosis about osteoporosis follow-up.

Research has demonstrated that women with multiple sclerosis (MS) do not make maximum use of information about osteoporosis prevention and management, even when they are well-informed. Focus-group methodology and telephone interviews were used to study how women with MS use or could use information about osteoporosis prevention and management to influence their healthcare providers to attend to osteoporosis-related needs. Twenty-two participants were asked to discuss their own and their peers' experience of sharing osteoporosis screening results with healthcare providers, as well as factors they think might influence healthcare providers to attend to osteoporosis risk reduction. Using comparative content analysis, the transcribed data were clustered into seven thematic areas: women's need to educate themselves about osteoporosis; women's need to educate their healthcare providers about osteoporosis as well as other women's health issues; the need to case manage oneself; advocacy for self and others; skills and characteristics required to negotiate the system; strategies for health researchers and advocates to inform healthcare providers about health issues and health promotion of women with MS; and strategies for healthcare providers to inform women with disabilities about health issues and health promotion of women with MS. These themes suggest directions for the development of strategies to enable women with MS to influence their healthcare providers in osteoporosis prevention and management.