The effect of self-care education on self-concept in patients with multiple sclerosis: A randomized clinical trial.

Multiple sclerosis is one of the chronic diseases of the central nervous system, which causes many physical and psychological complications.one of the ways to reduce disease complications is self-care education.

This randomized clinical trial was conducted from August 2017 to February 2018 at the Iranian MS society in Tehran, Iran. Participants were 86 patients with Multiple sclerosis who were randomly selected and divided into two groups of control (n=42) and intervention (n=44). From the list of patients, they were randomly selected through a random number table and divided into control and intervention groups. Age 20 to 65 years with diagnosis of MS, in the acute stage of the disease, no other debilitating disease, non-membership in medical and paramedical staff, literacy, and consent to participate in the study were considered as inclusion criteria. Also, other debilitating diseases, death during the study period or unwillingness to continue the study were the exclusion criteria. At the beginning, DIQ and RSCQ were completed in both groups. In the intervention group, self-care education was conducted in Five two-hour sessions with contents of :1. Prevention of intestinal and bladder disorders,2. Prevention of impaired mobility,3. Fatigue prevention,4. Psychosocial education. The control group did not receive any training. After completing the training in the intervention group, self-concept questionnaire was completed by both groups. At the end frequency distribution tables along with measurement of standard deviation and mean were used to assess the descriptive variables. Besides, inferential relationships of variables were assessed by statistical tests such as Chi square, paired T-test and independent T-test.

Before the intervention, mean score of self-concept in the intervention and control groups was 11.34 and 11.09, respectively. After the intervention, the mean score of self-concept in the intervention and control groups was 8.26 and 10.28, respectively has done. This change was statistically significant (p = 0.001).

This study recommends educational interventions as an effective factor in increasing the self-concept of MS patients. Therefore, the implementation of educational activities for MS patients at a widespread level along with the current treatment of the health system can be more effective in improving self- concept and improving quality of life.