investigating the effect of illness perception on the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and level of motor disability in multiple sclerosis patients

aim and background: schemas are cognitive patterns that have a major impact on the perception and behavior. therefore, it is necessary to investigate their role in determining and changing health related behaviors in ms patients. the purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of illness perception on the relationship between early maladaptive schemas in the domain of rejection and disconnection and the level of motor disability in ms patients. method and materials: 104 participants with ms, who referred to the ms commission in isfahan, were selected randomly. the research tools were young schema questionnaire-short form (ysq-sf), the brief illness perception questionnaire (brief ipq). the level of motor disability was assessed by expanded disability status scale (edss). data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and sobel test. findings: early maladaptive schemas in the domain of rejection and disconnection significantly predicted illness perception (p ≤ 0.001( and motor disability (between p ≤ 0.000 to p ≤ 0.012), and illness perception significantly predicted motor disability (p ≤ 0.000). therefore, early maladaptive schemas, with the mediate role of illness perception, predict the level of disability. conclusions: results supported that those ms patients with early maladaptive schemas in the domain of rejection and disconnection, have a higher level of negative perception to their illness and subsequently, higher level of disability. these results can be helpful in planning for providing psychological interventions to improve quality of life and increase health related behavior in ms patients.