The Effectiveness of Cognitive Rehabilitation on Cognitive Flexibility, Response Inhibition, and Selective Attention in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of disability with cognitive impairments. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of cognitive rehabilitation (CR) on cognitive flexibility, response inhibition, and selective attention in patients with MS. The current quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest plot and a control group was conducted on 32 patients in the Urmia MS Society, Iran. They were selected through the purposive sampling method and were divided into intervention (n=16) and control groups (n=16) by the simple random method. The patients in the intervention group participated in the cognitive rehabilitation for 12 sessions, individually. The scores of cognitive flexibility were obtained by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), selective attention by the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT), and the response inhibition by Go/No-go task. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (repeated measures analysis of variance). The results of the current study showed a significant preservation error in the interaction between group and time (p<0.05). Also, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of the error of committing (p<0.05). Nevertheless, no significant difference was observed in the responses of inhibition scores at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up between the two groups. Thus, significant differences observed in cognitive flexibility and selective attention at follow-up and post-test in intervention and control groups. Cognitive rehabilitation is likely to affect cognitive flexibility and selective attention in patients with MS.