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Neuropsychological dysfunction, depression, physical disability, and coping processes in families with a parent affected by multiple sclerosis

¹ Memory Clinic, Department of Geriatrics, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland
² Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, University of Basel, Switzerland
³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
⁴ Department of Mathematics and Technics, University of Applied Sciences Koblenz, Germany
⁵ Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Background

Families with a parent suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) must cope with the unpredictable course of the disease. Most studies analyzing factors that influence coping abilities in families with a member affected with MS used questionnaires to assess this ability.

Methods

On the contrary, the present study used a semi-structured psychiatric interview and used the resulting information to calculate a general measure of coping ability (coping index [CI]). We administered this interview to 44 MS patients, their partners and offspring and conducted a neuropsychological and physical evaluation of the patients to determine the impact of physical disability, cognitive dysfunction, and depression on the process of coping by the patient, the healthy partner, and children.

Results

The CI of patients was best predicted by measures of their depressive symptoms, divided attention, and estimated verbal intelligence. None of the patient variables predicted the CI of healthy partners or their offspring. We found an association between the CI of the healthy partner and the children.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that MS patients’ emotional and neuropsychological functions are associated with their ability to cope with the disease. These should be carefully assessed at the beginning of treatment so that those factors known to negatively influence patient coping are targeted in the treatment plan if necessary. Comprehensive care of a patient with MS should include support of coping abilities of the family members.

Key Words: cognition, coping, depression, multiple sclerosis, neuropsychological impairment, physical disability

First published on July 16, 2008, doi:10.1177/1352458508093678

Multiple Sclerosis 2008;14:1106.

A more recent version of this article appeared on September 1, 2008


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