Living with Multiple Sclerosis: A Phenomenological Study of Worries, Concern and Psychological Problems in Iranian Patients with MS

Multiple sclerosis (MS), as a progressive and degenerative illness, has an impact on different aspects of individual lives and may lead to difficulties, concerns, and worries in patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate concerns, worries and problems in patients with MS. We used a descriptive phenomenological qualitative approach. Participants were volunteers purposively selected based on their availability. We carried out deep interviews with 15 MS patients and analyzed the detailed information obtained from these interviews by using Colaizzi’s method. We extracted six essential themes and thirty-four sub-themes associated with MS from the content of the interviews. The main themes were labelled “Confronting existential concerns,” “Crisis of facing up with the illness,” “Suffering from the illness,” “Relationship,” “Confrontation with spirituality and religion,” “Searching for tranquility.” Results of the present study also reiterated the following: Patients with MS seem to lose meaning of life and this together with problems in dealing with existential concerns, may lead to the “disintegration of self,” hence resulting in considerable psychological disturbance and distress. It is concluded that the illness evokes psychological injury such as existential anxiety, relationship disturbance and hopelessness, and these psychological injuries can lead to relapsing of MS

letter to editor

letter to edito

Journal Club is a Turning Point of Clinical Knowledge and Therapeutic Experience: Presenting a model

Introduction: Today, is the era of knowledge, data, and different sciences relying on knowledge and research have continued their growth. This way, research and the method of research reading and application in clinical setting have been particular importance. This study endeavored to provide a useful and interactive way to hold meetings in addition to reviewing studies related to the Journal Club focusing on science dealing with the patient's bedside such as medical sciences and psychology. Methods: In this narrative review study the keyword journal club in conjunction with history, presentation, psychology, clinical psychology, and clinical research have been searched in Google scholar, Pubmed, SID, Ensani, Irandoc, Civilica, Magiran, Noormagz data bases in the years 2000-2019. Results: The preliminary search resulted in 284 articles. After removing repetitive articles, we reached 143 articles and after reading title and abstract and considering the including and excluding criteria, 29 articles were included in the study. The results were obtained in three main themes which are necessity, goals, and presentation. Goals as the major theme included five subthemes and presentation theme included two subthemes. Conclusion: According to the results of the reviewed studies for holding journal club, which could be the turning point of knowledge and experience, principles and rules need to be followed. According to these principles this study presented a five-step model including Preliminary, Exploration, Validation, Selection, Presentation and Supplementary steps for journal club meetings

Preliminary Reliability and Validity of the Iranian Computerized Version of Memory Tasks of the Betula Study

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of an Iranian computerized memory battery modeled after the Betula study. Methods: This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of an Iranian computerized memory battery modeled after the Betula study (Nilsson et al., 1997). The researchers developed this battery as an assessment tool in the Sepidar prospective cohort study. One hundred and ninety-nine participants aged 19-83 years were tested extensively on different aspects of memory. Exploratory factor analysis of the data demonstrated factors similar to those reported by the Betula study.  Results: The authors succeeded to converge the cross-sectional findings of the study and the data from longitudinal studies of memory aging by correcting possible cohort effects. Investigating age differences in episodic and semantic memory factor scores corrected by education and socioeconomic status revealed no significant difference between younger and older adults before ages 53 to 60, though linear age-related declines existed thereafter. Conclusion: The results support the reliability and construct validity of this computerized battery for memory assessment in Iranian adults.Originally article is written in Persian.</p