effect of spiritual care on death anxiety and self-esteem in patients with multiple sclerosis

Introduction: death anxiety and low self-esteem are major problems in patients with multiple sclerosis (ms). spiritual interventions, along with other nursing interventions, can restore the balance between body and soul. objective: this study aimed to determine the effect of the spiritual care program on death anxiety and self-esteem in ms patients. materials and methods: in this clinical trial, 60 patients with ms were randomly assigned into the intervention (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. the intervention group received spiritual care program in four sessions. templer death anxiety and rosenberg self-esteem scale were completed by samples before and after the intervention. data analysis was performed using the independent t test, chi-square, and fisher exact tests. the significance level is considered less than 0.05. results: the mean±sd ages of the intervention and control group samples were 32.8±6.39 and 35.1±8.35 years, respectively. the mean±sd scores of death anxiety in the control group 12.27±0.85 and the intervention group 11.8±0.88 before the intervention were not significantly different. after the intervention, the difference between the mean±sd scores of the control group 12.10±0.61 and the interventional group 8.13±0.71 was statistically significant (p=0.001). the mean±sd scores of self-esteem in the control group 14.63±1.51 and the interventional group 15.5±1.5 before the intervention were not significantly different. the difference between the mean±sd scores of self-esteem in the control group 14.67±1.9 and the interventional group 18.03±1.85 was significant after the intervention (p=0.001). the results of ancova demonstrated a significant difference between the control and intervention groups in terms of death anxiety (f=6.41, p=0.014, partial eta2=0.101) and selfesteem (f=13.079, p=0.001, partial eta2=0.187) of ms patients. conclusion: since spiritual care intervention in patients with ms reduced their death anxiety and increased their self-esteem, this simple and low-cost care program can be recommended for those suffering from this disease.