The relationship of psychological factors, demographic features and disease characteristics with self-management of multiple sclerosis patients

Introduction: Self-management is an important act of controlling the adverse outcomes in multiple sclerosis as a chronic and debilitating disease. This study was aimed to consider the relationship of psychological factors, demographic features and disease characteristics with self-management behaviors and predicting it among patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: In the correlational study, among the patients with multiple sclerosis who attended to the Iranian Multiple Sclerosis Association in Tehran, 193 patients were selected by a purposeful compliance procedure. Data were gathered with The Multiple Sclerosis Self-Management Scale, The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales and the Demographical/Disease Characteristics Questionnaire, then were analyzed by multiple regression in the stepwise method by SPSS 18. Results: Socioeconomic status and female gender had significantly positive relationship and role in prediction of self-management behaviors in patients with multiple sclerosis and also depression and anxiety had significantly negative relationship and role in prediction of selfmanagement behaviors among these patients (F= (4,188)=36.61, P<0.001) and these four factors totally were explain 43% (R2=0.43) of self-management (P<0.001). Literacy, Marriage status, treatment type, age, disease duration and stress didn’t have a significant role in prediction of self-management behaviors among these patients (P>0.05). Conclusion: Depression and anxiety are important risk factors for decreased selfmanagement among patients with multiple sclerosis. On the other hand, higher level of literacy and female gender are important factors for increased self-management among these patients. It is consequential, that pay attention to these factors in designing and implementing tailored programs of self-management and self-care promotion for controlling this disease.