The Effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy on Sleep Quality and Pain Management in Multiple Sclerosis

Pain can interfere with the daily functioning of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Furthermore, sleep disturbance is a common symptom of MS. The dialectical behavior therapy program is presented as a detailed structured treatment program that was demonstrated that has effects on the treatment of psychosomatic disorders such as pain and sleep disorders.

To investigate the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy on sleep quality and pain management in patients with MS.

This research has been carried out as a quasi-experimental with pretest, posttest, and a control group. A total of 24 people were selected through a convenient sampling method from the patients of the MS-Society of Guilan Province, Iran. Then, they are randomly divided into 2 equal groups (experimental and control). The study data were collected through Pittsburgh sleep quality scale and pain self-efficacy questionnaires. The intervention process was performed for the experimental group as 8 training sessions of 90 minutes long. The obtained data were analyzed by univariate analysis of covariance and multivariate analysis of covariance in SPSS v. 24.

The results showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of pain management (F=4.04) and sleep quality (F=5.64) (P<0.05) and dialectical behavior therapy had a significant statistical effect on sleep quality and pain management.

Based on these findings, dialectical behavior therapy can be used to improve the quality of sleep and manage pain in patients with MS.