The Effect of Executive Functions on Tolerance and Quality of Life of MS Patients: Path Analysis Pattern

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease is a chronic, debilitating, and often progressive inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that is affected by cognitive and emotional dimensions, and also, this disease affects these dimensions. Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the effect of executive functions on the tolerance and quality of life of MS patients. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 290 MS patients were selected as the sample size by simple random sampling method from the statistical population consisted of all 687 patients with MS disease in Gorgan’s MS Association, Gorgan City, Iran, in 2020. To collect data, we used Nejati’s executive functions questionnaire, McGuigan and Hutchinson’s quality of life questionnaire, and Simons and Gaher’s tolerance scale. Path analysis by SPSS V. 18 and AMOS V. 23 software was used for data processing. Results: According to the results of path analysis, executive functions affect -0.371 and tolerance -0.257 on the quality of life (P=0.01), and in total, that can explain 44% of the variance. Also, tolerance mediates the relationship between executive function and quality of life. Conclusion: Executive function is related to the quality of life of MS patients by the mediating role of tolerance, in the sense that a higher ability to tolerate increases the constructive effect of executive function on improving the quality of life.