The Effectiveness of Reality Therapy to Decrease the Marital Conflict and Despair in Women with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a part of a group of diseases of the nervous system that is associated with the destruction of the myelin sheath of the nervous system. Due to its disabling nature, the complications of this disease cover all aspects of the person's life and thus reduce the patient's life expectancy. The reduction of life expectancy also contributes to marital conflicts in the lives of these patients. In this regard, the present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of real-therapies on reducing marital conflicts and hopelessness in women with MS. The research method was a quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test design with control group. The statistical population of this study included all women with MS who referred to the MS Society and Sine Hospital in Tehran in 2015. Using a suitable sampling method, 31 MS patients with marital conflicts and hopelessness were selected and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and evidence have been replaced. Before the intervention program, the two groups were tested by sickness and hopelessness conflict questionnaires, then the experimental group received real-therapeutic training for 10 sessions of 2 hours and the control group received no intervention. After intervention, both groups were tested by questionnaires. To analyze the data, multivariate analysis of covariance was used. The results of covariance analysis showed that group reality therapy caused a significant difference (p<0.001) between pretest (M=112.90) and post test (M=90/06) in total score Marital conflicts as well as pretest (M=17.01) and post-test (M=13.70) were in the experimental group. In the post-test, after the control of the pre-test scores, the experimental group reported fewer marital conflicts and disappointment than the control group. Group reality therapy in MS patients makes it possible to know their needs and talk about their spouses, thus it can play an important role in improving marital conflicts and reducing their hopelessness.