Cargando…

Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating, non-traumatic, neurological disorder in young adults and can reduce quality of life (QoL) by interfering with the ability to work, leisure activities, and routine living tasks. Various studies have shown the dissatisfaction of people with MS in...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jahromi, Niloofar, Eskandarieh, Sharareh, Maleki, Nazanin, Sistany-Allahabadi, Narges, Sahraian, Mohammad Ali
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10444591/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38011340
http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/cjn.v22i1.12612
_version_ 1785093981893296128
author Jahromi, Niloofar
Eskandarieh, Sharareh
Maleki, Nazanin
Sistany-Allahabadi, Narges
Sahraian, Mohammad Ali
author_facet Jahromi, Niloofar
Eskandarieh, Sharareh
Maleki, Nazanin
Sistany-Allahabadi, Narges
Sahraian, Mohammad Ali
author_sort Jahromi, Niloofar
collection PubMed
description Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating, non-traumatic, neurological disorder in young adults and can reduce quality of life (QoL) by interfering with the ability to work, leisure activities, and routine living tasks. Various studies have shown the dissatisfaction of people with MS in different areas of care services. Regarding the patients' weakness with care and services, we sought to identify the challenges for patients with MS in receiving care and services in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016-2018 using a researcher-made questionnaire (designed by MS Specialists in an MS research center). The questionnaire examined the care challenges in four areas: 1) costs of medication, hospitalization, and rehabilitation services, 2) family support, insurance system, and job protection, 3) access to transportation system and treatment team, 4) quality of the provided care and services. Results: Completed questionnaires were received from 945 respondents. The mean age of responders was 35.92 years. In total, 731 (77.8) participants were women and 208 (22.2) were men. Academic education was reported among 615 (65.3) participants and 367 (40.2) were employed during the study, while 99 (10.5) of the subjects were not able to walk a minimum of 20 meters. The prioritization of care services challenges was as follows: the cost of pharmaceutical services (49.1), lack of telephone counseling (47.4), uninsured home rehabilitation (44.7), lack of qualified care centers (41.2), and rehabilitation costs (40.2). Conclusion: We found that patients who could not walk at least 20 meters and unemployed individuals had more problems and lower QoL. The patients who had non-academic education had more challenges with the cost of medication, transportation, and lack of familial support. This study shows the challenges of MS patients in receiving health care in Iran that vary in age, education, employment, and ability to walk. As the abovementioned challenges are of great importance in determining the QoL of people with MS, an appropriate solution is provided in this study to overcome these challenges.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10444591
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Tehran University of Medical Sciences
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-104445912023-08-24 Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran Jahromi, Niloofar Eskandarieh, Sharareh Maleki, Nazanin Sistany-Allahabadi, Narges Sahraian, Mohammad Ali Curr J Neurol Original Article Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating, non-traumatic, neurological disorder in young adults and can reduce quality of life (QoL) by interfering with the ability to work, leisure activities, and routine living tasks. Various studies have shown the dissatisfaction of people with MS in different areas of care services. Regarding the patients' weakness with care and services, we sought to identify the challenges for patients with MS in receiving care and services in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016-2018 using a researcher-made questionnaire (designed by MS Specialists in an MS research center). The questionnaire examined the care challenges in four areas: 1) costs of medication, hospitalization, and rehabilitation services, 2) family support, insurance system, and job protection, 3) access to transportation system and treatment team, 4) quality of the provided care and services. Results: Completed questionnaires were received from 945 respondents. The mean age of responders was 35.92 years. In total, 731 (77.8) participants were women and 208 (22.2) were men. Academic education was reported among 615 (65.3) participants and 367 (40.2) were employed during the study, while 99 (10.5) of the subjects were not able to walk a minimum of 20 meters. The prioritization of care services challenges was as follows: the cost of pharmaceutical services (49.1), lack of telephone counseling (47.4), uninsured home rehabilitation (44.7), lack of qualified care centers (41.2), and rehabilitation costs (40.2). Conclusion: We found that patients who could not walk at least 20 meters and unemployed individuals had more problems and lower QoL. The patients who had non-academic education had more challenges with the cost of medication, transportation, and lack of familial support. This study shows the challenges of MS patients in receiving health care in Iran that vary in age, education, employment, and ability to walk. As the abovementioned challenges are of great importance in determining the QoL of people with MS, an appropriate solution is provided in this study to overcome these challenges. Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2023-01-05 /pmc/articles/PMC10444591/ /pubmed/38011340 http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/cjn.v22i1.12612 Text en Copyright © 2023 Iranian Neurological Association, and Tehran University of Medical Sciences. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Jahromi, Niloofar
Eskandarieh, Sharareh
Maleki, Nazanin
Sistany-Allahabadi, Narges
Sahraian, Mohammad Ali
Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran
title Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran
title_full Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran
title_fullStr Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran
title_full_unstemmed Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran
title_short Challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in Iran
title_sort challenges of patients with multiple sclerosis in receiving health care services in iran
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10444591/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38011340
http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/cjn.v22i1.12612
work_keys_str_mv AT jahrominiloofar challengesofpatientswithmultiplesclerosisinreceivinghealthcareservicesiniran
AT eskandariehsharareh challengesofpatientswithmultiplesclerosisinreceivinghealthcareservicesiniran
AT malekinazanin challengesofpatientswithmultiplesclerosisinreceivinghealthcareservicesiniran
AT sistanyallahabadinarges challengesofpatientswithmultiplesclerosisinreceivinghealthcareservicesiniran
AT sahraianmohammadali challengesofpatientswithmultiplesclerosisinreceivinghealthcareservicesiniran