Investigating the mediating role of spiritual health in the relationship between irrational beliefs and dysfunctional attitudes with psychological well-being in women with Multiple Sclerosis through a structural equation modeling approach

Patients with multiple sclerosis usually experience a wide range of psychological problems. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of spiritual health in the relationship of irrational beliefs and dysfunctional attitudes with psychological well-being in the patient with multiple sclerosis by the Structural equation modeling approach.

This study was a correlational – descriptive design based on structural equation modeling. The study population consisted of all patients with multiple sclerosis who referring to the Iranian Multiple Sclerosis Association in 2017. 120 patients were selected by the available sampling method. Instruments for gathering data were Irrational beliefs questionnaire (Jones, 1986), dysfunctional attitude scale (Weissman & Beck, 1978), Spiritual Well-Being Scale from Paloutzian and Ellison (1982) and psychological wellbeing scale (Reef, 2002). Then, the data were analyzed using SPSS and Lisrel software and statistical tests such as Regression Analysis and Path Analysis.

Results showed that irrational beliefs and dysfunctional attitudes have a negative and direct effect on psychological well-being and spiritual health has a positive and direct effect on psychological well-being in the patient with multiple sclerosis. Also, the results of path analysis indicated that spiritual health have a mediating role in the relationship between irrational beliefs with psychological well-being, but the mediating the role of spiritual health in the relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological well-being was not significant.

It seems that designing training interventions based on irrational beliefs, dysfunctional attitudes, and spiritual health can increase the probability of psychological well-being among patients with multiple sclerosis.