Quality of life of children with epilepsy: Parent prospective

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University

2 Lecturer of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy is thought to be one of the most common neurological disorders and a major cause of impairment in the pediatric age group in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. It has a negative impact on one's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social well-being, as well as one's a general quality of life (QOL). Aim: The following study aimed to assess parents' knowledge and reported practice regarding epilepsy as well as their reported quality of life (QOL) of their epileptic children. Design: A cross-sectional design was used for this study. Setting: This study was carried out in three settings; an outpatient neurology clinic affiliated with Mansoura University Children's Hospital, Mansoura International Hospital, and Mansoura Specialized Hospital, Egypt. Subjects: Non-probability convenience sampling of 156 parents of epileptic children aged between 6 – 15 years of both sexes. Tools: Two tools were used to collect the data namely: A self-administrated Questionnaire Sheet and The Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE-55) scale. Results: The reported parents' QOL of their epileptic children got higher scores in physical and emotional domains while getting a lower score in cognitive and social domains. Conclusion: Our study concluded that epileptic children's overall QOL was compromised, with a significant impact on those children's cognitive and social domains. Also, there is a significant relationship between parents' total knowledge, reported practice score, and the total mean score of the QOL scale. Furthermore, the characteristics of studied epileptic children, their clinical profiles, and their parents' characteristics are factors associated with poorer QOL. Recommendation: The study recommended investigating the quality of life of epileptic children from the child's perspective.

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