The multiple sclerosis (MS) undergone description as a nosological unit for the first time in the 1860 and, from the neurological causes, it belongs among the most common causes of disability in young adults aged between 20 - 40.

The aim of the article authoresses is to introduce a new self-rating β scale in people with MS created by them. Both the patients and nurses working at workplaces where they care about the patients with MS can use the scale to assess the current level of self-care. Testing a new scale is a prerequisite for its subsequent validation and putting it into nursing practice. The Kurtz Scale of incompetence, the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Clifton's Self-sufficiency Scale and MS diagnostic criteria had been the starting point for creating the β Scale. The scale underwent testing for the first time at two workplaces selected both in the Czech and Slovak Republics.  The scale defines 20 needs with a point rating from 0 to 3 points, where 0 points stand for full self-sufficiency, whereas 3 points stand for patient´s full dependence.

Introducing the β scale into nursing practice would have helped nurses and other healthcare workers assess the self-care level in patients with MS in an objective way, thus providing the targeted nursing care.

 

Keywords: Multiple Sclerosis, β scale, Self-care, Rating, Testing