The Experience of Participating in an 8-Week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction plus Sleep Retraining Course among Women Living with Multiple Sclerosis

Adult women with multiple sclerosis (MS) can benefit from innovative mindfulness-based interventions designed and structured with understanding and consideration of the multifaceted challenges these women face on a daily basis. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the experience of participating in an online or traditional onsite 8-week, once a week, Mind Body Stress Reduction combined with Sleep Retraining course among women living with MS to establish online course acceptability. Braun and Clarke’s Reflexive Thematic Analysis method was used to analyze focus group interview data. Time and length for both courses was found acceptable, camaraderie and interconnectedness were essential, having choice regarding course delivery format was important, and being provided with organized learning materials at the course start in a binder or packet was considered imperative. Acceptability was established for both the online and onsite formats.

Proposing an Expanded Measure for Comparing Online/Hybrid to Face-to-face Courses

Online education continues to increase. With increased online offerings, it is important to evaluate the integrity or equivalence of online/hybrid courses relative to face-to-face (F2F) courses. This study used three separate samples of business undergraduates taking both online/hybrid and F2F courses in the same semester (i.e., mixed course delivery format), across summer, fall and spring semesters. Eight items were used to assess students’ perceived favorability of online courses (PFoOC) compared to F2F courses. Across all three samples, two related but distinct sources for course comparison consistently emerged, instructor-related and peer related. An eight-item measure represents a necessary improvement over a previously developed four-item PFoOC measure, because it allows for additional relevant item comparisons between online/hybrid versus F2F courses. It is hoped that this measure can be used to further research evaluating online education.