Aim:

It was aimed to determine the possible changes in the anxiety and quality of life of the child, and parental anxiety with a standard education program about epilepsy for parents, and children who were diagnosed with epilepsy at the last 3 months in children and families who did not have the standard education program and who had been followed up in the outpatients clinic at least for one year.

Materials and Methods:

Seventy-two epileptic children and their parents who were on follow-up in Ege University Medical Faculty Pediatric Neurology outpatients clinic between 1st January- 31st December 2010, were included in the study. Patients were divided into three groups. Group I was composed of patients at school age (6-18 years old) without any neurological abnormality (idiopathic childhood epilepsy), who had at least two afebrile seizures and were planned to start on antiepileptic drugs. Group II was composed of patients on follow-up in the outpatients clinic, receiving antiepileptic therapy for at least 1 year, using at least 1 antiepileptic drug, with at least one seizure during the last 3-month period, and group III was composed of patients with intractable epilepsy. Questionnaires were given to patients and their parents in group I at the beginning of and 6 months after the education. The applied questionnaires and tests were; questionnaire on general knowledge about epilepsy, ‘Quality of Life Scales’ which were applied to the parent and the child. These tests were applied to group II and group III patients during their routine visits to the outpatient clinic.

Results:

When the scores of the questionnaire on general knowledge about epilepsy were compared, the post-education scores of group I were higher than the pre-education scores and also the scores of the other 2 groups. Child Quality of Life Scales, ‘Scale Total Scores’ and ‘Psychosocial Health Total Scores’ were significantly higher in the post-education scales for group I. When 3 groups were compared, ‘Scale Total Scores’ and ‘Psychosocial Health Total Scores’ of Group III were significantly lower than those of the other 2 groups.

Conclusion:

Giving information about epilepsy is as important as seizure control. Besides, it is shown in many studies that the over protective attitude of the family due to lack of sufficient knowledge about the disease, cause high anxiety levels and this has a negative effect on the life quality of the child and the parent. Informing the families about this disease orally and visually increases the quality of living.

Keywords: Epilepsy, education, quality of life