Abstracts

RATIONALE: Family intervention programs are needed to help prevent adjustment problems, such as poor self-esteem, social withdrawal, and behavior problems, in youth with epilepsy. The purposes of this study were to develop and pilot Be Seizure Smart, a psychoeducational family intervention designed to help family members develop positive attitudes toward epilepsy and to increase their knowledge about managing seizures.
METHODS: Be Seizure Smart was individually tailored to address unique concerns and fears, provide desired information about epilepsy, treatment, and management of seizures, and provide emotional support. Subjects were 10 families with children ages 7 to 13 years (M = 10.6 years) diagnosed with epilepsy for at least two months but less than one year. Data were collected before and after the intervention to measure attitudes, perceptions, concerns, needs (information and support), and knowledge of seizures. Pretest and posttest scores on all measures were compared using one-tailed paired t-tests.
RESULTS: Although attitudes of both the children and mothers were more positive after the intervention than before, results were not statistically significant. Family response to seizures did not significantly change, but mothers had improved scores on the mood, engagement, and leisure subscales. Maternal satisfaction with family functioning did not significantly change, however, child satisfaction did improve significantly (p = .02). There was no significant change in mother anxiety, depression, or hostility, although mothers were less anxious, depressed, and hostile after the intervention than before. Mother concerns about managing their child[ssquote]s seizures and concerns about the seizures decreased after the intervention, but results were not statistically significant. Child concerns about their seizures also decreased and the change approached significance (p = .06). Needs for information and support were fewer at posttest for both children and their mothers. These reductions were statistically significant for mothers (p = .01) with a strong trend for children to need less information at posttest (p = .07). In addition, scores on the Knowledge of Seizures scales were higher at posttest; both mothers[ssquote] and children[ssquote]s scores improved significantly (p = .05).
CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the Be Seizure Smart program was most effective in increasing child satisfaction with family functioning, reducing the need for psychosocial care for mothers, and improving both the mothers[ssquote] and the children[ssquote]s knowledge of seizures. Participants did indicate overall satisfaction with the program and liked the convenience of in-home telephone interactions with the nurse and receiving tailored information.
Support: Neuroscience Nurses Foundation.