effects of spirituality education program on depression and anxiety among patients with multiple sclerosis: a randomized-controlled trial

Background: around 50% - 60% of patients with multiple sclerosis suffer from different levels of anxiety and depression. patients with multiple sclerosis, due to their unique conditions, have limitations on using medications and psychotherapies to manage their depression and anxiety. objectives: the aim of this study was to assess the effects of a spirituality education program on the anxiety and depression of patients with multiple sclerosis. methods: a pretest-posttest two-group randomized-controlled trial was conducted in 2018 on a convenience sample of 64 patients with multiple sclerosis. patients were randomly allocated to an experimental group and a control group. in the experimental group, patients received spirituality education in eight 90-min weekly sessions. the beck depression and the anxiety inventory were used for data collection. for data analysis, we used frequency distribution tables, repeated measures anova (rm-anova), and independent t-test. results: the post-test mean scores of depression and anxiety were significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05). moreover, the results of the rm-anova test illustrated that in the experimental group, the depression score significantly decreased from 22.86 ± 3.86 at baseline to 14.27 ± 4.62 after the intervention (p < 0.001). additionally, the anxiety score in this group significantly decreased from 20.82 ± 4.26 at baseline to 13.55 ± 4.74 after the intervention (p < 0.001). conclusions: the findings show that spirituality education is effective in reducing the symptoms of depression and anxiety among patients with multiple sclerosis.