Abstract

Background and objective: Multiple sclerosis is one of the chronic diseases, in which ‎the patient faces with psychological consequences such as disturbance in relationships ‎and failure in achieving the life goals due to emergence of unpredictable symptoms. ‎The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of group-based hope ‎therapy on improving marital adjustment in MS patients (Multiple Sclerosis).‎ Methodology: This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest ‎design with a control group and a follow-up stage. The research population included all ‎women suffering from MS disease in Tehran in 2017-2018. The sample of study ‎consisted of 36 patients (18 in the experimental group and 18 in the control group) who ‎were selected by convenient sampling method from the MS Association of Tehran. ‎Two groups were matched in terms of the research criteria. The experimental group ‎underwent group-based hope therapy for 5 consecutive 90-minute sessions, while the ‎control group did not receive any intervention. One month after the end of the sessions, ‎the experimental group re-answered the same questionnaire. The dyadic adjustment ‎scale (DAS) was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using Spss version 25.0 and ‎covariance analysis method‏.‏ Results: The results revealed a significant difference between the mean of the ‎experimental group and that of the control group in the pre-test, post-test and follow-up ‎stages (p=0.01<0.05,  f=255.163), indicating the effectiveness of group-based hope ‎therapy on marital adjustment in women with MS‏.‏ Conclusion: The results showed that group-based hope therapy improved marital ‎adjustment in women with MS‎‎.