The Effect of Implementing an Educational Program on Adherence to Treatment and Self-Compassion of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis, as one of the most important causes of disability in the world, can cause a feeling of despair in a person to be compassionate and follow his treatment, so it is important to use self-compassion methods for these patients. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of the educational program on treatment compliance and self-compassion of patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: In the current clinical trial study, 80 patients with multiple sclerosis, members of the MS Association of Zahedan city in 2023-2024, were selected by the available method and randomly divided into two groups of 40 people, intervention and control. 8 sessions of face-to-face educational program were designed and implemented for patients, and the rate of application of the programs by patients was followed up under the supervision of the researcher. Before, one month and 3 months after the implementation of the intervention, patients' adherence to treatment was measured using the "Treatment Adherence in Chronic Patients" questionnaire and self-compassion was measured using the "Multiple Sclerosis Patient Self-Compassion Assessment Questionnaire". The data were analyzed using statistical tests of repeated measures, Chi-Square under SPSS 21 statistical software at a significance level of less than 0.05. Results: The average age of the intervention group was 40.05 ± 9.61 years and in the control group was 40.13 ± 8.78 years, and according to the findings, before the intervention, there was a statistically significant difference between the variables of gender, age, education level, marital status in Two intervention and control groups were not observed. The results of the independent t-test show a statistically significant difference between the average changes in the total score of adherence to treatment and the average total score of self-compassion after the intervention (P=0.000). Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the present educational program can increase self-compassion and adherence to treatment in patients with multiple sclerosis, so it is necessary to take advantage of it in rehabilitation programs to promote or improve the mental and psychological conditions of patients.