Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common illness causing neurological inabilities in young adults. The ability of the ill person to use coping skills is an important factor that could help reduce stress and manage the increasing challenges caused by this debilitating illness. The present study focused on comparing the amount of coping skills used by MS sufferers, who were or were not members of a peer support group. Methods: The method of the study was descriptive-analytical. The study was conducted at the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Zanjan City during year 2016. Simple random sampling without replacement was conducted on 30 MS sufferers, who were members and 90, who were not members of the peer support group. The data gathering tool included a demographic questionnaire and Jalowiec coping skills questionnaire. Fisher's exact test and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: Comparison of the amounts of coping skills used by member and non-member patients in the peer support group revealed that they differed insignificantly (0.735) in terms of excitementoriented skills, and significantly in terms of problem-oriented coping skills. Furthermore, the member patients used more problem-oriented coping skills than the non-member patients (0.009). Conclusions: Peer support has an increasing effect on the use of problem-oriented coping skills. Thus, it will be helpful to encourage patients to become a member of the peer support group.

Background: The management of Psychological symptom in patients and nurses, effective communication with patients are important issues that should be taken into consideration in nursing care. This study aimed to examine the effects of nursing welcome program on the level of stress and satisfaction in patients in the Coronary Care Units (CCU). Methods: The interventional study was done on 72 patients, who were admitted to CCU at Emdadi hospital in Abhar in 2017. The patients were selected by convenience sampling and were allocated into intervention (n= 36) and control (n= 36) groups. Data was collected using a questionnaire including demographic; Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and the La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale (LOPSS). The DASS-21 was fulfilled by a welcome nurse through interview in both groups. Then the welcome nurse began to implement the Nursing Welcome Program in the intervention group. The level of patients' stress and satisfaction were measured an hour and 24 hours after the intervention respectively. Patients in the control group received routine care without any intervention. Data was analyzed using independent t-test, chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test in SPSS-16. Results: The Mean±SD of stress in intervention and control groups after intervention were 8.23±3.24 and 11.9±4.20 respectively (p= 0.001). The Mean±SD of satisfaction in intervention and control groups after intervention were 249.26±26.7 and 236.10±23.71 respectively (p=0.031). Conclusions: According to the importance of nurses' position in communicating with patients, employing welcome nurses as an effective care method to reduce psychological symptoms and increase patients' satisfaction is suggested.