# The Relationship Between Perceived Social Support and Spiritual Well‐Being in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

## TL;DR

This study explores how perceived social support and spiritual well-being are connected in people with multiple sclerosis.

## Contribution

The study identifies emotional support and age as significant predictors of spiritual well-being in MS patients.

## Key findings

- Spiritual well-being is strongly correlated with perceived social support in MS patients.
- Emotional support significantly increases the likelihood of spiritual well-being in MS patients.
- Age is a positive predictor of spiritual well-being in MS patients.

## Abstract

This study aimed to determine the relationship between spiritual well‐being and perceived social support (PSS) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

This was a cross‐sectional study.

This study was conducted on 120 patients with MS in Isfahan in 2021. The participants were over 18 years of age and referred to the MS Clinic.

The subjects were selected using convenience sampling. Data were collected using Cheraghi and Davari Dolatabadi's Perceived Social Support and Paloutzian and Ellison's Spiritual Well‐Being (SWB) questionnaires and analysed using descriptive (number and percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential (Pearson's test, linear regression) statistics in SPSS software.

Pearson correlation test indicated that there was a direct relationship between spiritual well‐being and the total score of perceived social support (r = 0.415, p < 0.001) and the emotional (r = 0.328, p = 0.004) and informational (r = 0.311, p = 0.006) dimensions; this relationship was not significant in the instrumental dimension (r = 0.197, p = 0.081). Moreover, linear logistic regression analysis showed that in MS patients, the chance of spiritual well‐being among MS patients will be increased by 59.2% per unit increase in emotional support. Also, the chance of spiritual well‐being increases by 34.1% for each score increase in the age of MS patients.

It is necessary that age and perceived emotional support, as a strong predictor of spiritual health status, are considered in designing health promotion interventions for patients with MS.