Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on the Quality of Sleep in Women with Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study.
Samira Abbasi, Nasrollah Alimohammadi, Saeid Pahlavanzadeh
PMID 27713895WHAT IT FOUND
Women with multiple sclerosis in a nurse-led group CBT and relaxation program reported better sleep immediately and one month after treatment than before.
The control group did not show this change.
Key findings
01On the 0 to 21 sleep quality score, where higher means worse sleep, the intervention group’s mean score was 14.58 before, 11.73 immediately after, and 11.5 one month after.
02The control group’s mean score was 13.44 before, 13 immediately after, and 13.7 one month after, and its change was not significant (P=0.332).
03Sleeping-drug doses did not differ significantly before and after intervention in either group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was a convenience sample from hospital MS clinics, so it may not represent all women with MS. Only women were included, and participants had EDSS scores from 0 to 5.5, so results may not apply to men or people with more severe disability. Follow-up was only one month after treatment. The intervention included cognitive techniques, muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing, visualization, and homework, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The control group had three sessions about disease, and the report does not state whether participants or outcome assessors were blinded. Sleep quality was self-reported. Three patients in each group withdrew. The supplied text reports within-group repeated-measures results for total sleep quality and does not give a clear between-group test for the total score.
Declared interests
No explicit funding or author conflict statement is provided. The paper mentions a recommendation letter from the research council of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that cognitive behavioral therapy alone caused the sleep improvement. The program also included muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing, visualization, and homework, and both groups continued usual drug treatment, so the effect of any single component cannot be separated.