The ABC has featured Prof Jelinek's newly published research showing the benefit of live-in retreats for people with MS on its current affairs show The 7.30 Report
In 2002, Professor George Jelinek began running week-long live-in retreats for people with MS at the Gawler Foundation in Victoria, Australia.
His research team evaluated the outcomes of people who attended those retreats. In their December 2010 issue, international peer-reviewed journal Quality in Primary care reported the findings of this study. ABC‘s ‘The 7.30 Report’ featured this on December 16.
The story detailed some of the results of the study, also interviewing the Professor and some retreat participants. Overall, the study showed improvements at one year after the retreat for mental health (13% of attendees) and physical health (15%).
At the 2.5 year mark, this rose to 15% for mental health and 17% for physical health. That there should be such an improvement, particularly in physical health, and that the benefit should continue to accrue with time, are very significant findings. People with multiple sclerosis can take genuine hope of a bright future from this research, and the television report.