The study of training demands of MS patients, members of Iran's MS Society in 2007

This research is a descriptive study about training needs of MS patients who are members of Iran's MS Society and aims at presenting a proper training model for these patients in 2007. In this study 174 patients referred to Iran's MS Society were chosen with simple randomized method from patients who fulfilled required criteria. Data were collected through questionnaire containing 4 parts. First part contained 16 questions about personal information, second part was about patients views to their training needs, third part contained 8 questions surveying patients willing to know more about the disease nature, and in the fourth part there were 41 questions about their training demands in relation with physical, psychologic, and socioeconomic categories. The results revealed that the age range of most cases (26.4%) was between 32-39 years, 71.3% were female, 59.8% were married, and 27.7% of patients had a history of less than 3 years of being afflicted with the disease. The results related to the first part of the study showed that 39.1% of cases had high training needs. Findings revealed that as for the second part of the study, 0.6% of cases had high training requirements for knowing about disease nature. In relation to the third part, findings showed that 94% of cases had sexual dysfunctions and needed more training accordingly. The study findings in fourth part implied that 61.5% of cases had training needs about anxiety control methods. Findings in fifth part showed that 61.5% of cases required some training about difficulties facing in procuring medicine. Findings related to sixth part showed that there was significant relation between patients training needs about somatic issues and the education level (p=0.027). Also there was significant relation between training demands in psychologic category and the education level (p=0.003). There was significant relation between training demands in psychologic category and accepting the illness (p=0.035). There was significant relation between patients training needs about somatic issues and frequency of being hospitalized (p=0.004). There was significant relation between patients training needs about psychologic issues and frequency of being hospitalized (p≤0.001). The final conclusion shows that some characteristics potentiate training requirements and there must be some more concern about somatic issues training needs.