effect of family-centered empowerment model on self-care behaviors of patients with multiple sclerosis

Background: self-care behaviors contribute greatly to the management of multiple sclerosis (ms) and the prevention of its complications. the family has a critical role to play in the adoption of these behaviors in these patients. the present study aimed to assess the effect of the family-centered empowerment model on the self-care behaviors of ms patients.method: this experimental study was performed on 60 patients referred to the ms clinic of ghaem hospital in mashhad in 2020-2021. the subjects who met the inclusion criteria were non-randomly assigned to two groups of control and experimental. data collection tools included the demographic information form and the performance assessment of self-care skills (pass) which were completed before and one month after the intervention in both groups. the educational content was presented to the experimental group in eight 45-60 min sessions in accordance with the family-centered empowerment model, while the control group received the routine training. data were analyzed in spss software (version 16) using independent t-test, analysis of variance, and mann-whitney test.results: the majority of participants in the experimental and control groups were female, single, and hold a diploma. the mean total scores of self-care behaviors after the intervention were obtained at 38.86±6.24 and 42.20±6.17 in the control and experimental groups, respectively. after the intervention, the mean total score of self-care behaviors and their dimensions in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.05).implications for practice: hugo point massage with ice is suggested to be used as an available, efficient, and cost-effective method before arterial blood sampling.