Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy on Pain Self-efficacy, Fatigue, Life Expectancy and Depression in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Objectives: The present study aims to investigate the effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) on pain self-efficacy, fatigue, life expectancy and depression in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Methods: In this quasi-experimental clinical trial with a pretest/posttest design, 68 patients with MS referred to MS clinics and MS ‎Association‎ of Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran were selected using a convenience sampling technique, and were then assigned into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received ten 2-hour weekly sessions of CBGT, while the control group received no treatment. In the pretest and posttest phases, Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Snyder’s ‎Adult Hope Scale (AHS)‎ ‎and Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) were completed by all subjects. The collected data were analyzed using ANCOVA and t-test. Results: The CBGT significantly improved pain self-efficacy (P=0.001) and life expectancy (P=0.001) and reduced fatigue (P=0.02) and depression (P=0.003) in the intervention group compared to the control group. Conclusion: CBGT can increase pain self-efficacy, life expectancy and reduce fatigue and depression in patients with MS.