The Effect of Social Support on the Quality of Everyday Functioningof Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) causes progressive disability which results in deterioration of patient’s functionalability to cope with daily living. It is important for a patient to get social support in order to develop an optimal way of achieving life goals that were modified by the disease. The solutions, worked out thanks to the provided social support, should allow a patient to achieve success in the reality determined by illness.
Aim. Analysis of the impact of some elements of social support on the quality of everyday livingofpatients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Material and methods. The research study was conducted among patients hospitalized in the Department ofNeurology, Independent State Teaching Hospital No 4 in Lublin (SPSK4), among patients with multiple sclerosis living in their home environment and those staying in the National MS Rehabilitation — Residential Centre in Dąbek. The study group inclu­ded 106 patients with diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) and the average age of the examined patients was 45.51±11.34 years. The average duration of the disease was 14.25±10.25 years. The Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29) was used to asses the impact of multiple sclerosis on patients’ functional ability. The Social Support Demand Scale was used for assessment of scope and expectations for social support. The Pearson correlation coefficient and the chi-square independence test were used for statistical analysis. Adopted level of statistical significance: p<0.05.
Results. The conducted research study revealed that the disease lowers patients’ quality of functioning. The average impact of the disease on the quality of functioning of an individual in the study population was 54.03% (78.34 points out of145). The study showed that the destructive effect of MS on psychic functioning (50.98%) is lower than the impactofMS onphysical aspects (55.40%).
Conclusions. 1. Multiple sclerosis significantly lowers everyday functioning of patients; functioning disturbances were confirmed in 63.21 percent of patients; the disease disrupted overall quality of patients’ functioning in 54.03 percent on the average. 2. The destructive effect of MS on psychological aspects of everyday functioning of patients is lower (50.98%) than its effect on the physical aspects of illness (55.40%). 3. Patients with multiple sclerosis showed better functioning both in psychological and physical areas after they received informational, emotional, instrumental and material supportandassi­stance. 4. Informational assistance provided by healthcare professionals was totally effective in 31.19 percent of patients (information was completely understandable), in other cases itwas unsatisfactory. Only 29.25 percent of patients expect informational assistance from a nurse. (PNN 2013; 2(5):205–215)