Facilitators and Barriers to Adapting to the Disease: The Lived Experience of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease in which the myelin lining the central nervous system is damaged. This study aimed to explore the experiences of facilitators and barriers adapting to MS. Material & Methods: This study was conducted using a qualitative phenomenological method. The participants were 14 (8 female and 6 male) referred to Rofideh Hospital in Tehran. The participants were selected with maximum diversity and using purposive sampling method. The study data were collected through semi-structured interviews and continued until data saturation. Interviews took about 30-60 minutes. Data analysis was conducted using MAXQDA software and the seven-step Descriptive colaizzi method continuously and simultaneously with data collection. To evaluate the rigor of data, we used Lincoln and Guba criteria including credibility, dependability, conformability, and transferability. Result: After analysis of the interviews, the five main categories related to facilitators of adaptation that emerged included religious strategies, receive emotional and professional support, search and find information, psychological strategies, and life style (and 18 subcategories). Also the three main categories related to barrier of adaptation that emerged included health-related, patient-related and social-related barriers (and 8 subcategories). Conclusion: These results represent the perceived characteristics, facilitators and barriers of adaptation to Multiple Sclerosis by patients. Therefore, based on these results its necessary to design or implement necessary social arrangements by rehabilitation centers and therapeutic interventions by psychologists and counselors for patients in order to reduce problems.