Objectives: During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, health care workers, including nurses and their family members, experienced various psychological problems. Coping skills may help them deal with the current challenge and maintain their mental health and improve their quality of life. Therefore, this study investigated the relation of coping skills with mental health and quality of life of the nurses’ family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the family members of the nurses working at Hajar Hospital of Shahrekord dedicated to admission and hospitalization of COVID-19 infected patients using a census sampling method in 2020. Participation in this study was voluntary and finally 220 persons were included in this study. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 through respiratory droplets or contact, a weblog was created using blogging software that contained questionnaires for collecting data on demographic information, mental health (PHQ-9), coping skills (coping responses inventory [CRI], Billings & Moos), and quality of life (SF-36). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests in SPSS software version 22 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY). Results: Of the 220 participants in this study, 101 participants were male and 119 were female. The mean age of the subjects was 35.78 years, and 56.4% of them had an academic education level. The Pearson correlation analysis showed a significant relationship between coping skills and mental health, quality-of-life items, total quality-of-life score, and demographic variables of participants (except education) (P < 0.05). This was a direct relationship in such a way that as the score of coping skills increases, so does the score of mental health and quality of life. Based on the results of regression analysis, the predictive power of mental health, coping skills, and education level was obtained to be 0.634. The coping skill variable was the strongest predictor (ß = 0.467), and after that, the mental health variable (ß = 0.421) had the highest predictive power. Conclusion: The obtained results showed that coping skill is the association between psychological health and quality of life such that the coping skill has a significant direct effect on psychological health and quality of life. The results also showed that, at the time of crisis, further attention should be paid to coping skills to develop and improve the quality of life and psychological health.

Background: Family caregivers of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) face many caring-related problems that increase their care burden and decrease their self-efficacy. Evidence-based self-management interventions may be used to improve care processes and resolve caregiver concerns. Purpose:The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a self-management program on care burden and self-efficacy in family caregivers of people with MS.Methods: This study was performed in Iran in 2018-2019. The participants were selected using convenience sampling and assigned to control and intervention groups of 35 participants each using stratified randomization by gender. The intervention group participated in an eight-session self-management program. Data were collected using the Zarit Burden Interview and Scherrer Self-efficacy Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS Version 16.Results: No significant difference in care burden scores was found between the two groups at baseline (p = .953). However, mean scores for care burden in the intervention group were significantly higher (p < .001) both immediately after completion of the intervention (42.6 ± 3) and at 3 months after completion of the intervention (36 ± 3), with the most significant improvement found immediately after the intervention. Similarly, no significant difference in self-efficacy scores was found between the groups at baseline (p = .976). However, mean scores for self-efficacy in the intervention group were significantly higher (p < .001) both immediately after and at 3 months after completion of the intervention (60.6 ± 4.7 and 72.7 ± 4, respectively), with the most significant improvement found at 3 months postintervention.Conclusions/Implications for Practice: Providing self-management programs to caregivers of people with MS is an effective approach to reducing their burden of care and increasing their self-efficacy. Enhancing self-management by learning adaptation skills, self-care skills, social support, and spiritual support promote improved self-efficacy and reduce the care burden of these caregivers.

Background and aims: Caring for patients with multiple sclerosis causes family caregivers many problems and challenges. Self-management interventions can facilitate the caring process and increase the quality of patient care. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a self-management program on Self-concept of the family caregivers of multiple sclerosis patients. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2018 at the MS Treatment Center of Shahrekord. The samples were selected through convenience sampling method. First, participants were assigned to two groups of men and women by stratified random sampling, and then men and women were assigned randomly to intervention (n=35) and control (n=35) groups. For the intervention group, the selfmanagement program was implemented twice a week in 8 sessions. Data collection was performed using the Coopersmith self-concept Inventory in two groups before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16.0. Results: The mean scores of self-concept in the intervention and control groups before the intervention were 72.6±9.1 and 72±10.6, respectively. There was no significant difference between the mean score of self-concept between the intervention and control groups before the intervention (P>0.05). The mean scores of self-concept immediately after the intervention in the two groups were 86.4±9.2 and 73±10.6, and three months after the intervention, they were 103±7.4 and 73.9±10.5, respectively. A significant increase in the scores of self-concept in the intervention group (P<0.001) was observed. Moreover, the independent t test showed a significant difference in the two groups immediately after and three months after the intervention (P<0.001). Conclusion: Self-management program increased the self-concept of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients’ caregivers. Therefore, selfmanagement can play a critical role in improving the quality of life of family caregivers and coping with the physical and psychological stress related to their caring role.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 epidemic is a global health crisis that, in addition to physical health, has affected the mental health of all individuals, especially health-care workers, including nurses and family members. In this regard, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 epidemic on mental health of nurses’ family members. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present descriptive-analytic and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020 year on family members of nurses working in Hajar Hospital for admission and hospitalization of patients with COVID-19, after obtaining the necessary permits and coordination. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 through respiratory or contact droplets, a blog was designed to collect data using software. Participation in this study was voluntary. Data collection tools included consent, demographic questionnaire, and mental health questionnaire (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). Data were analyzed by SPSS version 22. RESULTS: Findings of this study showed that out of 208 family members of nurses participating in this study, 96 were male and 112 were female and their mean age was 35.78 years, and 55.3% of the participants had university education. Their mean mental health score was 12.91 ± 3.75, so that 22.6% of people had mild depression, 71.4% of people had moderate depression, and 1.8% of people had severe depression. Independent t-test showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between mental health and gender and marital status (P < 0.001). Furthermore, one-way analysis of variance test showed that there is a significant relationship between mental health and age (P < 0.001); this test also showed that there is no relationship between education and mental health (P = 0.75). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the mental health of nurses’ family members is affected by the challenges of COVID-19 epidemic time, so that many of them suffer from some degree of depression. Therefore, supporting this population requires urgent action.