Abstracts

Rationale: Social determinants of health affect the quality of life and health outcomes for those living with epilepsy. People living with epilepsy (PWE) with poorer seizure control have lower education, less household income, and higher unemployment compared to people not living with epilepsy. PWE have unmet social needs related to food and housing, adequate Internet access, discrimination, and social isolation. To build the capacity of the epilepsy workforce to address these unmet social needs, there is a need for additional programming, resources, and partnerships.

Methods: Public Health Institutes (PHI) are annual skill-building conferences implemented to improve the capacity of the epilepsy network to address the social determinants of epilepsy. Through collaborations and partnerships, multi-day conferences are convened to equip those who work directly and indirectly with those living with epilepsy with the tools, resources, training and linkages to address epilepsy-related inequities, such as poor interactions with law enforcement and living in rural areas.



With a theme of “Building Inclusive Communities,” each PHI has focused on specific social determinant areas, including food and housing insecurity, rural health disparities, discrimination, social and civic injustices, and police interactions. To increase engagement, partnerships with social agencies and multi-sector organizations were forged at the national level to establish trusted and credible local relationships, such as with Feeding America and the National Rural Health Association.


Results: More than 350 participants have learned more about determinants of epilepsy through PHIs since 2022. Post-event and three-month follow-up surveys are conducted to assess changes in knowledge, resource sharing and collaboration readiness. The majority of attendees update their programs and activities after PHI to better assess the social needs of their clients and increase their self-efficiency to address those social needs by engaging social service partners, such as community health workers, food banks, and public health and health education agencies.

Conclusions: PHI has expanded the reach of the epilepsy network through collaborations with health educators, digital navigators, community, and social service agencies and more. This capacity building initiative has effectively increased the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the epilepsy workforce to address unmet social needs and reduce epilepsy disparities, especially among rural and minority communities.

Funding: This work made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under cooperative agreement number NU58DP006065-03-00. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the CDC.