Explaining the individual problems of women affected by Multiple sclerosis: a qualitative study

Multiple sclerosis is one of the most important nervous system diseases. Incidence of the disease in women is about 2 or 3 times more than in men. Patients affected by chronic and debilitating diseases like MS have problems related to their diseases. The purpose of this study is to recognize the individual problems in this group of patients.
In this qualitative study with approach of content analysis, 23 women affected by MS explained the experiences about their individual problems related to the disease in semi-structured and in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was done among people who referred to the center of Tehran MS patients in 2014. Finally, Data were analyzed by the conventional content analysis.
1100 codes were obtained by the interviews in three stages of analysis. The codes were specified in five sub-categories:Difficulty in accepting the disease at diagnosis, Tormenting physical problems,Mental problems, Conflict and disease preoccupation in patients, And lack of effort to learn more about the disease.
Due to many individual problems experienced by this group of patients, their suffering must be reduced by the comprehensive support of family and the community.