Exploring Mental Health Literacy and Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Francesco Pastore, Valentina Simonetti, Barbara Forastefano and 5 others
PMID 41739874WHAT IT FOUND
People with MS had knowledge and beliefs about mental health that were higher in women and more educated patients.
Quality of life linked weakly to mental health knowledge only, and nursing care ratings were mostly unrelated.
Key findings
01The mean total mental health literacy score was 67.1 (6.4).
02Quality of life had only a weak significant correlation with knowledge of mental health problems (ρ=0.156, P=0.042).
03Mental health literacy scores did not differ significantly across patient evaluations of nursing care (all P >0.05).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The survey used convenience sampling and had a 34% response rate, so the participants may not represent all people with MS. The cross-sectional design cannot show whether mental health literacy affects quality of life, whether quality of life affects mental health literacy, or whether either affects care. All measures were self-reported, so answers may be affected by recall or social desirability. Only age, educational level, and employment status were analyzed as sociodemographic factors because those were collected at all centers. The study did not assess depression, anxiety, or other clinical and psychosocial variables that may affect quality of life. The study did not test a nurse-delivered intervention, so it cannot show what nurses should do.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurse-led mental health education improves mental health literacy or quality of life. This was a cross-sectional survey of patients, not an intervention study, and mental health literacy scores did not differ by patient ratings of nursing care.