Investigation of Health Promoting Lifestyle and SocialSupport and Their Correlation Among Iranian WomenWith Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and often progressive condition with protean neurologic manifestations that disables persons. It is often diagnosed over the ages of 20 to 40 (1). Therefore, MS often affects people at their productive phase of life, who are worried about their family roles and responsibilities (2). There are 2.5 million people with MS in the world. Its incidence ranges from 1 to 5 per one million in the world. There are currently no accurate statistics about the incidence and prevalence of MS in Iran. However, prevalence of MS ranged from 5.3 to 74.28 per 100 000 and its incidence ranged from 0.68 to 9.1 per 100 000 with the higher incidence and prevalence among females (2-3 times more often among women than men) in Iran (3). MS exerts dramatic physical, economic, psychological, and social effects on different issues concerning the everyday lives of individuals having it and their families (4). In addition to physical effects such as fatigue, pain, walking disorders, intestinal and bladder dysfunctions, sexual dysfunctions, vision problems, there are visible changes in emotional and cognitive functions (such as information processing, attention, memory, and mood) in most people with MS (5). This disease has threatened the individual’s ability to contribute effectively in the family and community, propelling them to feel low selfworth and self-confidence (6). Evidence demonstrates that stress management and physical activity can help improve the functional status of the patients with MS (7). The importance of healthy lifestyle has been widely discussed because of its impress on health and wellness. Over the last few decades, there has been a great focus on lifestyle changes to prevent disability and death (8). Poor lifestyle patterns are associated with the current reasons of mortality and morbidity (9). In other words, one of the strategies to lead a better quality of life is healthy lifestyle (10). Longevity, improved quality of life, and minimization of health care costs were significantly affected by healthpromoting behaviors (11). The most important element of health is social support, which may affect health-related behaviors (12). Social support refers to the exchange of resources between at least two providers and recipients aimed at improving the health of recipients (13). Social support is regarded vital for health promotion because it can facilitate the fulfillment of physical and emotional needs; Abstract Objectives: Evidence suggests that health-promoting behaviors can help improve the functional abilities of the patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). We examined the relation of health promoting lifestyle with social support among the women with MS. Materials and Methods: This correlational study was conducted in 2017 among 250 Iranian women with MS in Tabriz city. The sampling was purposive, and frequency of health-promoting behaviors was obtained from the Health Promoting Lifestyle-II and modified Social Support Questionnaires. The relationship between health promoting lifestyle and social support was determined by the Pearson correlation test. Results: The mean score of health promoting lifestyle was 2.40 (SD = 0.46) within the achievable range of 1 to 4. Women obtained the highest mean score on the sub-domain of interpersonal relationships (Mean = 2.63, SD = 0.54) and the lowest mean score on the sub-domain of physical activity (Mean = 1.81, SD = 0.60). The mean (SD) score of social support within the achievable range of 0 to 100 was 70.39 (SD = 25.60). A significant positive correlation was found between health promoting lifestyle and social support (r = 0.19, P = 0.003) and all its sub-domains (r = 0.19 to 0.42, P<0.05). Conclusions: Health promoting lifestyle is significantly associated with social support and it can be enhanced by social support among the women with MS along with other treatments.