Journal of Education and Health Promotion

The effectiveness of group intervention focused on intolerance of uncertainty on psychological distress and quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Hani Rahimi
. Mohammadreza Pirmoradi
. Fahimeh Fathali Lavasani
. Hojjatollah Farahani

Department of Psychology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
AIM AND BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a long‑course incurable disease as well as an
unknown prognosis causing patients to experience a variety of psychological outcomes. Meanwhile,
inability to control the disease‑related uncertainty leads to the use of maladaptive coping strategies,
causing more psychological distress. This study investigated the effectiveness of intervention focused
on the intolerance of uncertainty on psychological distress and quality of life in MS patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research adopted a true experimental design. All phases of the
study were conducted online due to the COVID‑19 pandemic during 2021 in Tehran. The statistical
population of the study was purposefully selected from among MS patients and was randomly assigned
to three groups of 20: IU intervention and two control groups (cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
and treatment as usual (TAU) groups). The study included pre‑test, post‑test, and follow‑up stages.
The outcome measures of the study included the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‑21) as
well as Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life‑54 (MSQoL‑54). Mixed analysis of variance was used to
analyze the data.
RESULTS: The results showed that IU intervention compared to CBT, is more effective on
psychological distress (depression P = 0.006, anxiety P = 0.01, and stress P = 0.01) and quality of
life (P = 0.001) in MS patients. Nonetheless, IU‑focused intervention is more effective than TAU on
psychological distress (depression P = 0.0001, anxiety P = 0.0001, stress P = 0.0001) as well as
quality of life (P = 0.0001) in these patients.
CONCLUSIONS: IU‑based intervention can reduce psychological distress and improve quality of
life of MS patients. Accepting uncertainty can reduce the anxiety and stress of MS patients which
can increase the quality of life of these patients.

Keywords

Cognitive behavioral therapy
intolerance
multiple sclerosis
psychological distress
quality of life
uncertainty
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 13, Issue 1
Winter 2023
Pages 1-8

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