Empowerment-based interventions in people with multiple sclerosis: a review study

Abstract

Introdution: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease in the nervous system; It has many problems due to its chronic and promising nature. The treatment of this disease includes medical care and empowerment interventions for symptom management. The purpose of this study was to review the empowerment interventions in these patients.

Methods: This study was conducted in a Systematic Reviewperiod from January 2000 to June 2018. On indexing sites “Magiran, PubMed, Google Scholar and Science Direct” searched the key words of Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Disease, Quality of Life, Self-care, Self-management, Rehabilitation, Empowerment, Psychotherapy, Psychological interventions, Clinical Trials, and Randomized Clinical Trial. Out of 1855 articles found, 33 articles were selected for review.

Results: The results of this study showed that empowerment interventions in people with MS can be divided into four categories of self-care, self-management, rehabilitation and psychotherapy interventions. Lack of attention to empowerment interventions in people with MS, especially in the Iran, low attention to male patients in implementing interventions, failure to consider the theoretical framework in the formulation of interventions, lack of follow-up test and non-use of virtual intervention methods (Such as using DVDs, consulting and telephone training, etc.) in Iranian studies, is one of the most respected points in previous studies.

Conclusion: Empowerment studies have provided significant results in reducing symptoms and improving the quality of life of patients, which can help improve these interventions by considering some of the points.