Effects of Educational Interventions on Self-Esteem of Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Multiple sclerosis affects the patient's self-esteem by changing body imaging. This study aimed to investigate the effect of educational interventions on patients’ self-esteem with multiple sclerosis. The present study was a quasi-experimental study with control group which was done on patients with multiple sclerosis of Mashhad in 2012-13. Participants were 75 patients referred to the Mashhad Multiple Sclerosis Society who were selected using continuous sampling and were assigned into two experimental (37 cases) and control (38 cases) groups. The tools including demographic and Rosenberg self-esteem questionnaires were used. Educational intervention was presented in three (each 45min) sessions to the experimental group. Then the participants were carried out learned items during four weeks. At the end, both groups were completed the Rosenberg self-esteem questionnaire again. Data was analyzed by SPSS 11.5 software using paired T, T-independent and Chi-square tests. 47 participants were female and their mean age was 34.2±3.7. No significant differences was observed between the experimental and control groups in any of demographic variables (p>0.05). A significant difference was observed between self-esteem and demographic variables (p<0.05). No significant difference was observed between the scores of self-esteem before intervention. Whereas, a significant increase was observed in the scores of experimental group compared with control group after intervention. Educational interventions are effective on patient's self-esteem with multiple sclerosis.