Journal of Preventive Medicine

Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all patients with MS referred to medical centers in Isfahan at 2020, who 45 of them were selected by available sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (n=15). Scherrer et al.'s (1982) self-efficacy questionnaire was used to collect data and for data analysis, a mixed design with repeated measures was performed by version 26 of SPSS software.

Results: The results showed that the interactive effect of group × time on the self-efficacy (F=91.845) was significant (P-Value<0.01) and compassion therapy and reality therapy significantly affected self-efficacy in the experimental groups. The difference between experimental and control groups in terms of mean of self-efficacy in post-test and follow-up stages compared to pre-test (F = 6.768) was significant (P-value <0.01). These changes in the mean of self-efficacy in the control group in the three stages of the test were not significant. There was no significant difference between the effectiveness of compassion therapy and reality therapy in increasing the self-efficacy of patients with multiple sclerosis (MD = 3.400, P-Value = 0.429).

Conclusion: Compassion-based therapy and reality therapy can significantly increase self-efficacy in patients with MS; But their effectiveness on increasing self-efficacy is the same.