Effectiveness of Compassion-focused Therapy on Sleep Quality and Intensity Pain of Women with Multiple Sclerosis

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) on sleep quality & intensity pain of women with multiple sclerosis.

This study was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest & follow up control group design. Thirty people with inclusion criteria were selected by purposive sampling method from all women with MS in Tabriz in 2023 who were members of the multiple sclerosis Association of this city. In total, 30 person meeting the inclusion criteria were selected by purposeful sampling, and The were randomly divided into the intervention and control groups (15 people each). The measurement tools were Pittsburgh sleep quality and McGill pain intensity questionnaires. The members of the experimental group received CFT in 8 sessions of 1.5 hours; but the control group did not receive any treatment. Analysis of findings through repeated measures analysis of variance test.

In the pretest, mean and standard deviation of the CFT for sleep quality (17.67±2.49) and for intensity pain (46.73±4.52), and in the control group for sleep quality (17.00±1.73) and for intensity pain (45.87±3.94) (P>0.05). CFT compared to the control group the sleep quality (14.33±2.28) and intensity pain (42.00±5.09) of women with multiple sclerosis increased and decreased respectively in the post-test (p<0.001). In the follow-up phase, the effect of treatment on the sleep quality and intensity pain was lasting (p<0.001).

Based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that compassion-focused therapy has increased sleep quality and reduced the intensity pain of women with multiple sclerosis.