Dr. Elizabeth Morrison-Banks, an expert on multiple sclerosis, or MS, and colleagues have received the 2023 International Journal of Multiple Sclerosis Care, or IJMSC, Herndon Award for a research article that was published in the journal’s January-February 2022 issue.

Titled “Validity and Reliability of the Scale to Report Emotional Stress Signs–Multiple Sclerosis (STRESS-MS) in Assessing Abuse and Neglect of Adults With Multiple Sclerosis,” the paper was published in IJMSC Online First in July 2021.

MS is an autoimmune disease that affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide. This chronic, degenerative neurological condition periodically shutters communication between the brain and other parts of the body, resulting in symptoms that include numbness and tingling in the arms and legs, as well as blindness and paralysis.

Morrison-Banks’ research team published the study validating a questionnaire to screen people with MS for abuse and neglect. The researchers interviewed 102 adults with advanced disability from MS, and 97 of their primary unpaid caregivers, the vast majority of whom were spouses, adult children, or other relatives of the people with MS. 

“While we expected to find some level of mistreatment, we were surprised when more than 50% of our study participants with MS had experienced various types of abuse or neglect,” Morrison-Banks said. “It was even more surprising to find that psychological abuse and neglect were more likely to be reported by the caregiver than by the person with MS. Although most caregivers are not abusive, health professionals need to be aware of these issues so they can recognize and address mistreatment when it does occur.”

Morrison-Banks joined the School of Medicine in 2016 and is a UCR Health physician. Her initial focus was family medicine, but helping her mother and aunt manage neurological conditions led her to specialize in neurology instead. She founded the UCR Multiple Sclerosis Program, the first program of its kind in Inland Southern California to be recognized by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as a comprehensive MS center. She also helped found a neurology residency program at UCR to help address the shortage of neurologists in the Inland Empire and across the country.

“Serving the MS community is an honor and a privilege,” Morrison-Banks said. “Patients and their loved ones in our clinical practice never cease to impress me with their courage in dealing with neurological disability while living their best possible lives.”