The relationship of psychological factors, demographic features and disease characteristics with self-management of multiple sclerosis patients

Introduction: Self-management is an important act of controlling the adverse outcomes in multiple sclerosis as a chronic and debilitating disease. This study was aimed to consider the relationship of psychological factors, demographic features and disease characteristics with self-management behaviors and predicting it among patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: In the correlational study, among the patients with multiple sclerosis who attended to the Iranian Multiple Sclerosis Association in Tehran, 193 patients were selected by a purposeful compliance procedure. Data were gathered with The Multiple Sclerosis Self-Management Scale, The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales and the Demographical/Disease Characteristics Questionnaire, then were analyzed by multiple regression in the stepwise method by SPSS 18. Correspondence: Issac Rahimian Boogar, PhD. Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology & Educational Sciences, Semnan University. Semnan, Iran Tel:+98 232 3623300 Email: [email protected] Results: Socioeconomic status and female gender had significantly positive relationship and role in prediction of self-management behaviors in patients with multiple sclerosis and also depression and anxiety had significantly negative relationship and role in prediction of self-management behaviors among these patients (F= (4,188)=36.61, P<0.001) and these four factors totally were explain 43% (R2=0.43) of self-management (P<0.001). Literacy, Marriage status, treatment type, age, disease duration and stress didn&rsquo;t have a significant role in prediction of self-management behaviors among these patients (P>0.05). Conclusion: Depression and anxiety are important risk factors for decreased self-management among patients with multiple sclerosis. On the other hand, higher level of literacy and female gender are important factors for increased self-management among these patients. It is consequential, that pay attention to these factors in designing and implementing tailored programs of self-management and self-care promotion for controlling this disease.