ABSTRACT
Chronic illnesses affect people's life span. Nowadays it involves not only elderly, but also the middle aged and the young. Because they result in disabilities, many of these diseases have significant effects on the quality of life of the affected persons. One of these chronic and disabling diseases is multiple sclerosis. It is seen mostly in young adult. This illness is characterized with inflammation in white matter, demyelization and geliosis of cerebllar cells that causes multiple neurological disorder and long term disability. The goal of this research was to determine the effect of rehabilitation process on the quality of life in multiple sclerosis patient referred to neurological clinics of Shiraz University of medical sciences in 2005. For the assessment of the quality of life, a standard questionnaire which included 12 aspects of quality of life was used. Also the degree of disability was determined with the use of Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS]. A total sample of 75 patients affected by multiple sclerosis was randomly divided into two groups, case [35] and control [45]. At first the patients completed the quality of life questionnaire and their EDSS scores were determined. The rehabilitation intervention was performed on the patients based on their individual needs which included 10 sessions of physiotherapy, 5 sessions of education and 2 sessions of group therapy. The control group received only conventional treatment [medical therapy]. The quality of life and EDSS score in an interval of one month, three months and of one to three months were determined and compared in both groups. Results showed that the patients in the case group showed statistically significant increase, one month after intervention, in 7 aspects of quality of life and no statistical significant difference was observed in other aspects. Besides, during three months after intervention, significant difference was observed in all quality of life aspects. Although in the control group there was a statistically significant decrease in 5 aspects of quality of life one month after the intervention, there was no such a decrease in other aspects. Moreover, a statistically significant decrease was observed in 5 aspects of the quality of life in control group three months after intervention. Noticeably, the case group maintained an increase in 11 aspects one to three months after intervention. The patients' ESDD score in the case group before one month and three months after the intervention did not show any significant difference with the pre-intervention stage. No significant difference was observed one month after intervention while a significant decrease was observed after three months and in the interval of one to three months of intervention [p=.03 ,p=.009].In general, the results of this research showed the process of rehabilitation would increase the quality of life and life satisfaction in multiple sclerosis patients. Furthermore, this process improves patients' abilities in doing their daily living activities, although the process does not affect patients' EDSS score. Therefore, we recommend that the process of rehabilitation be considered as a part of the treatment program of multiple sclerosis patients