Effectiveness of Unity-Oriented Psychodrama on Sense of Coherence of MS Patients

Abstract

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common chronic and progressive central nervous system ailments that is considered as a disabling and traumatizing disease. Objectives: The goal of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of psychodrama based on unity-oriented approach on the sense of coherence of MS patients. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental research, which included pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with a control group. Using a convenience sampling method, 20 individuals were selected from among females with MS who had visited the Iranian MS Society. The subjects were randomly placed into two experiment and control groups. The experiment group participated in a 12 session unity-focused psychodrama therapy plan for six weeks, whereas the control group received no intervention. For data collection, the Flensborg-Madsen’s Sense of Coherence Questionnaire was used. The data was analyzed using ANOVA with repeated measures. Results: The results revealed that there is a significant difference between two groups’ sense of coherence scores in post-test and follow-up stages (P < 0.05). Conclusions: As seen in the findings, the unity-oriented psychodrama can be used as an effective treatment to enhance the sense of coherence among MS patients. Unity-oriented approach helps the patients integrate with the universe and define their bitter experiences. It also facilitates better patient acceptance through understanding a sense of connectivity to the coherent world and offers a sense of immorality to the MS patients.