Parental stress in a sample of children with epilepsy.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: Denmark NLM ID: 0370336 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1600-0404 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00016314 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Acta Neurol Scand Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Copenhagen : Wiley-Blackwell
Original Publication: Copenhagen Munksgaard

Epilepsy/*psychology ; Parents/*psychology ; Stress, Psychological/*psychology; Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Emotions ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Stress, Psychological/epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective: To assess maternal and paternal stress in two groups of children with different types of epilepsy, at the time of diagnosis and after one year of follow-up.
Methods: We investigated parental stress in a sample of 85 children aged between 2 and 14 years, divided into two groups based on the diagnosis: Group 1 (50 patients) with childhood absence epilepsy or idiopathic focal epilepsy with rolandic discharges and Group 2 (35 patients) with different forms of drug-resistant epilepsy. Parents independently completed the Parental Stress Index-Short Form at Time 0, when they received the diagnosis and patients started therapy, and at Time 1, after 1 year of follow-up.
Results: We found high levels of stress in both mothers and fathers at Time 0, without statistically significant differences between the two groups. At Time 1, stress values were unchanged in Group 1 mothers; conversely, the levels of stress in Group 1 fathers reduced, with average values that all fell within the "normal range." In Group 2, stress levels were reduced both in mothers and in fathers at Time 1, compared to Time 0, but equally fell into the "pathological range," for both parents.
Conclusion: In our study, the diagnosis of the epilepsy itself tended to increase parental stress, apparently regardless of the severity of the epilepsy; even after a period of follow-up, when the epilepsy was better controlled, overall parental stress remained high. It might have been related to feelings of parental inadequacy or concerns about issues such as safety or the outcome for the child.
(© 2019 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Keywords: children; epilepsy; parental stress

Date Created: 20190420 Date Completed: 20191014 Latest Revision: 20191014

20240829

10.1111/ane.13106

31002402