Evaluation of quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients

Objective: to evaluate the quality of live in Multiple Sclerosis patients. Method: this is about an exploratory descriptive study, from quantitative approach, performed with 13 subjects with confirmed clinical diagnosis. The instrument used for data collection was the Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) translated into Portuguese as Escala de Determinação Funcional de Qualidade de Vida em pacientes com Esclerose Múltipla (DEFU). The research project has been approved by the Ethics Committee according protocol number 096/2008. Results: there was a prevalence of women (69.2%) with a mean age of 48.7 years old (SD = 10.45). The aspect which had the highest deficit index was Thinking and Fatigue (M=22.31), followed by Personal Satisfaction (M=16.77), Social and Familiar Status (M=13.08), Mobility (M=12.46), Symptoms (M=11.46) and Emotional State (M=8.31). Emotional State was the aspect with the lowest score for the patients obtained an adequate family support. The reliability of the correlation coefficients among the DEFU sub-scales showed significant results (p<0.01). Conclusion: multiple Sclerosis is directly connected to quality of life, due to its symptomatic, emotional and social manifestations. Nursing is directed to the promotion, protection and recuperation of health. Thus, it can determine goals and solutions that would alleviate the limitations caused by MS. Descriptors: multiple sclerosis; quality of life; nursing.