Journal of North Khorasan

Background & Objectives: Multiple Sclerosis(M.S) is one of the most common chronic disease of the central nervous system in young adults and like any other chronic disease can effect various aspects of life of patients and their quality of life. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Hope-based group therapy on the quality of life in women with multiple sclerosis.

Material & Methods: This research is a quasi-experimental study with control group pretest- posttest design. Number of 24 patients as the sample was selected among women with M.S and divided into two groups as intervention and control group. Hope-based group therapy was performed in the intervention group. The instrument used in this study was Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29). Research data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software and statistical tests of independent t-test, chi-square and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

Result: Hope-based group therapy caused a significant difference (p<0.001) between intervention and control groups in the overall scale of quality of life. It also significantly (p<0.001) improved psychological aspect of quality of life in women with M.S, compared to control group, but this intervention showed no  significant effect  on improvement of physical aspect of quality of life.

Conclusion: Hope-based group therapy is effective in improvement of psychological aspect of quality of life in women with M.S. So it can be applied as a useful method of intervention for improvement of psychological aspect of quality of life in patients with M.S.

Keywords: Group therapy, Quality of life, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S)