Effect of Expressive Writing on the Sexual Self-Concept in Men With Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Controlled Trial Publisher Pubmed



Sabbaghi MM¹ ; Amini L² ; Nabavi SM³ ; Seyedfatemi N⁴ ; Haghani H⁵ Show Affiliations
Source: BMC Neurology Published:2025

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have examined the various outcomes of expressive writing intervention in different populations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of expressive writing on the sexual self-concept of men with multiple sclerosis. Methods: This parallel randomized controlled clinical trial conducted on 70 men attending an MS clinic in Tehran in 2022. The participants were randomly assigned to expressive writing intervention and control groups. For two weeks, participants in the intervention group disclosed their emotions and expressed their feelings in writing twice a week. Sexual self-concept was evaluated using the Multidimensional Sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire on three occasions, before, after, and 4-week follow-up. The data ware analyzed using SPSS software version 22 (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). The analysis employed Chi-squared test, Fisher’s exact test, independent t-test, and repeated measured ANOVA. A p-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: The mean of age in the intervention group was 38.6 ± 6.85 years, while in the control group it was 38.94 ± 6.07 years. There were no significant differences between the two groups, in terms of these characteristics. According to the results, the dimensions of SSC did not change over time assessments, except for sexual problem self-blame (p = 0.011) and sexual fear/apprehension (p = 0.042) in the expressive writing intervention group, and sexual motivation in the control group (p = 0.002). On the other hand, before the intervention, sexual motivation was significantly higher in the control group compared to the expressive writing intervention group (p = 0.046). Conclusions: Our findings did not support the general effectiveness of a 2-week expressive writing intervention on the sexual self-concept of the men with MS except for the sexual fear/apprehension and sexual problem self-blame dimensions. However, further research is needed to better understand the effects of expressive writing intervention on Sexual self-concept in men with multiple sclerosis, while controlling for the limitations of our study. Trial registration: The present study has been registered on the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) at https://irct.behdasht.gov.ir/trial/59664 on November 17, 2021, with the code IRCT20211028052892N1. © The Author(s) 2025.