The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital in the Relationship between Self-Management and Nutrition Behavior in People with Multiple Sclerosis

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of self-management on Nutrition Behavior (NB) with the mediating role of Psychological Capital (PC) in People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) in Gilan province. Methods: We studied PwMS in Guilan MS Society (GMSS) in a cross-sectional design research in 2019. We invited 275 PwMS to participate in the study either through convenience sampling method. Data collection tool consisted of questions about demographic characteristics of participants, a revised form of Multiple Sclerosis Self-Management Scale (MSSM-R), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in SPSS 19.0 and Amos 18.0 statistical software. Results: The results showed that nutrition has a significant positive correlation with self-management (r = 0.342), self-efficacy (r = 0.211), optimism (r =0.208), hope (r = 0.316), resiliency (r = 0.237), and PC (r = 0.287) (P-value < 0.001). Additionally, the results showed that the direct and indirect effect of self-management on nutrition was significant and the proposed model had a good data fitting. The VAF index showed that 18% of the total effect of self-management on nutrition behavior is indirectly explained by the mediating variable of psychological capital. Conclusion: Self- management and PC were associated with NB in PwMS. The results of this study support the importance of these factors in health-promoting behaviors with regard to NB and the proposed model can be a suitable option in health care and nursing provided that, the fit of this model is investigated in future research and other provinces.