Examining the Effect of Spiritual Health on Hope and Coping Strategies among Patients with Multiple Sclerosis (Ms)

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Background and Objective: Spiritual dimension plays an essential role in human health, thus attracting great interest in teaching spirituality. Spiritual health has a positive impact on the health, longevity and recovery from physical illnesses. Given that, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of mental health education on hope as well as coping strategies of patients with Multiple Sclerosis.Method: This study was a clinical trial whose population were members of the ‘community support for MS patients’ in Tehran . After calculating the sample size, sampling was conducted in two stages: first, 100 members of the community in support of the MS patients were selected. Second, 30 of them were randomly assigned to two groups, namely experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. Spiritual health group teaching for 8 sessions of 90 minutes was held by a trained clinical psychologist. Privacy as a fundamental principle in the treatment of patients was also considered by keeping the personal information confidential. Data collection tools included Miller Hope Scale (MHS) and Lazarus and Folkman’s Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ). Pre-test and post-test results were analyzed using covariance. In this study, all the ethical issues were considered; moreover, the authors declare no conflict of interest.Results: The results demonstrated that the teaching made a significant difference between the experimental and control group. After controlling for pre-test scores, a significant difference between the mean scores of hope (p = <. 000) and coping strategies (emotion-focused and problem-focused) was found between the groups on post-test (p = <. 000).Conclusion:According to the findings, Spiritual health education can raise hope and foster effective coping strategies (problem-focused) in people who suffer from MS.For downloading the full-text of this article please click here