The effect of art therapy-based education on symptoms of anxiety, depression and chronic fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS)

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of art therapy-based education on the symptoms of overt and covert anxiety, depression, and chronic fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study was a quasi-experimental clinical trial with pre-test and post-test research with a control group. Univariate analysis of covariance was used for the statistical analysis of data. The study population was all patients (319 people) referred to the clinic of the special disease of Ali Ibn Abi Taleb Hospital in Rafsanjan in the age range of 18 to 55 years. At the screening stage, a sample of 40 subjects was considered who were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Art therapy-based training classes for the experimental group were held in 14 sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the control group classes were held in 14 sessions (45-minute) with different content on Sundays and Mondays. The results showed that art-based education reduced the symptoms of anxiety, depression and fatigue In other words, 14 sessions of Art therapy-based training explained 30%, 11%, 22% and 11% of the variance of Explicit anxiety, hidden anxiety, depression, and fatigue.