Influence of religion and spirituality on the mental health of patients with multiple sclerosis

ABSTRACT

It is widely accepted that following physical abnormalities caused by multiple sclerosis (MS), psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, and stress also develop in these patients, which have received less attention. Moreover, spiritual health can lead to compatibility with chronic illness and reduce psychiatric disorders in this group of patients. Since nurses focus on patients’ mental, psychological and spiritual needs, further research is required on the role of spiritual health in common psychiatric disorders in these patients, such as depression, anxiety, and stress. In addition, nurses with a holistic knowledge of the patient can effectively meet the spiritual and religious needs of the patient and implement programs to increase the spiritual care of patients. This study aimed to investigate the influence of religion and spirituality on the mental health of patients with multiple sclerosis. The present descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 120 MS patients referred to the Alborz MS Association (Karaj, Iran) in 2019, who were selected by convenience sampling. Data collection tools included the Demographic Information Questionnaire, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS, Paloutzian & Ellison, 1982), and the 21-item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS21). The total SWBS score, the religious and existential dimensions of SWBS showed a significant correlation with depression, anxiety and stress (p-value <0.001). The results of this study revealed a significant and inverse correlation of total SWBS with depression (p-value <0.001, r = −0.549), anxiety (p-value <0.001, r = −0.443) and stress (p-value <0.001, r = −0.416). According to the present study results, people who have more spiritual health experience less depression, anxiety, and stress. Nurses are encouraged to try to help these patients through self-care training programs and experience or the presence of religious advisors.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiple sclerosis
• spiritual health
• depression
• anxiety
• stress

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all staff of the Alborz MS Association and all the patients who contributed to this project.

Study highlights

1) What is the current knowledge?

Today’s health system is more focused on meeting the physical needs of patients and often ignores their spiritual needs.

2) What is new here?

Strengthening spiritual health in chronic diseases should be included in treatment priorities to prevent complications such as depression, anxiety, and stress.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The present study was conducted after obtaining ethical approval from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (IR.SBMU.RETECH.REC.1397.1081) and permission from the management of the Alborz MS Association. It is noteworthy that nurses participated in the study voluntarily. Informed consent was obtained after the participants were informed of the purpose, risk and benefits of the study. They could withdraw from the study whenever they wished. They can also be informed of the research results if they wish. All the experimental protocol for involving humans was in accordance with national/international/institutional guidelines or the Declaration of Helsinki.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19349637.2023.2174920

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no funding to report.