Psychological Changes in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) as a stressful event, despite causing negative psychological changes, may lead to positive ones as well. Objective: This study was mainly conducted to examine the implications of posttraumatic growth and demoralization and also to determine the relationship between them in patients with MS. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, in which the research population included all patients with MS who were the member of Ardabil Multiple Sclerosis Association. Using convenience sampling method, 146 eligible patients completed the posttraumatic growth tool and the demoralization scale. The obtained data were analyzed by using descriptive (mean, range, frequency, standard deviation) and inferential (Pearson correlation coefficient) statistics. Results: The Mean±SD age of the participants was 33.59±8.70 years, and most of them were female (67.8%), married (67.1%) and had a high school diploma (49.3%). The Mean±SD scores of posttraumatic growth and demoralization were 65.23±17.1 and 34.71±18.22, respectively. Also, a significant inverse correlation was obtained between demoralization with posttraumatic growth (P<0.001; r=-0.57) and its dimensions (P<0.001; r=-0.23 to -0.57). Conclusion: By decreasing the score of negative psychological changes (demoralization), the score of positive psychological changes (posttraumatic growth) increases in the MS patients. Nurses, psychological counselors, and other community caregivers can provide the context to create positive changes in MS patients, by reducing demoralization and resolving patients’ psychological problems.