Family burden, child disability, and the adjustment of mothers caring for children with epilepsy: Role of social support and coping.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to contribute to the existing research on the coping behaviors, social support, and mental health outcomes in parents of children with epilepsy in the United States. METHODS: Participants included 152, predominantly Caucasian (89.5%), married (78.9%) women (95.4%). Via a web-based interface, mothers completed questionnaires assessing the impact of their child's disability on their family (i.e., severity of their child's disability, family burden, and personal stress), social resources (i.e., perceived social support), coping (i.e., emotion-focused and social support seeking), and adjustment (i.e., depression and anxiety). RESULTS: After controlling for demographic variables, mediational analysis revealed that mothers' perceptions of the severity of their child's disability were associated with decreased perceived social support, which was then related to higher reported levels of depression and anxiety. Similarly, low levels of perceived social support partially mediated the relation between family burden and depression, anxiety, and stress. Finally, mothers' perceptions of the severity of their children's disability and family burden were unrelated to their reports of emotion-focused or social support seeking coping. However, their use of emotion-focused and social support seeking behaviors was related to lower levels of depression. CONCLUSION: Low levels of perceived social support may help to explain the mechanisms underlying the relation between mothers' perceptions of the severity of their child's disability and family burden on their mental health adjustment, such as depression and anxiety.

Verbal memory and literacy outcomes one year after pediatric temporal lobectomy: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: In children with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), temporal lobectomy (TL) is a treatment of choice for those children with seizure that are difficult to control with medication. Semantic memory is dependent on functional integrity of the temporal lobes and is thought to be critical for development of literacy skills. However, little is known about semantic memory and literacy outcomes post-TL in children. METHOD: In this retrospective cohort study, 40 children with TLE were administered tests of memory and literacy pre-TL and 1year post-TL in one hospital between 1996 and 2011. RESULTS: One year post-TL, 60% of the children became seizure-free. A significant decline was found in one aspect of semantic memory (naming) in children who underwent left TL. In addition, a significant drop was also evident in one aspect of literacy (reading accuracy), irrespective of the side of surgery. These declines were related neither to each other nor to epilepsy variables including seizure outcome. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest pediatric outcome study of memory and literacy skills to date and shows that TL is associated with a risk of a mild drop in specific aspects of semantic memory (naming, following left TL) and reading accuracy, while other areas of memory and literacy remain unchanged.

Translation to Portuguese and cross-cultural adaptation of the epilepsy transition readiness checklist for use in Brazil.

OBJECTIVES: Planning for the child and adolescent to have a safe handling in the epilepsy transition process is essential. In this work, the authors translated the "Readiness Checklists" and applied them to a group of patients and their respective caregivers in the transition process to assess the possibility of using them as a monitoring and instructional instrument. METHODS: The "Readiness Checklists" were applied to thirty adolescents with epilepsy and their caregivers. The original English version of this instrument underwent a process of translation and cultural adaptation by a translator with knowledge of English and epilepsy. Subsequently, it was carried out the back-translation and the Portuguese version was compared to the original, analyzing discrepancies, thus obtaining the final version for the Brazilian population. RESULTS: Participants were able to answer the questions. In four questions there was an association between the teenagers' educational level and the response pattern to the questionnaires. The authors found a strong positive correlation between the responses of adolescents and caregivers (RhoSpearman = 0.837; p < 0.001). The application of the questionnaire by the health team was feasible for all interviewed patients and their respective caregivers. CONCLUSION: The translation and application of the "Readiness Checklists" is feasible in Portuguese. Patients with lower educational levels felt less prepared for the transition than patients with higher educational levels, independently of age. Adolescents and caregivers showed similar perceptions regarding patients' abilities. The lists can be very useful tools to assess and plan the follow-up of the population of patients with epilepsy in the process of transition.

Translation to Portuguese and cross-cultural adaptation of the epilepsy transition readiness checklist for use in Brazil

Abstract Objectives: Planning for the child and adolescent to have a safe handling in the epilepsy transition process is essential. In this work, the authors translated the "Readiness Checklists" and applied them to a group of patients and their respective caregivers in the transition process to assess the possibility of using them as a monitoring and instructional instrument. Methods: The "Readiness Checklists" were applied to thirty adolescents with epilepsy and their caregivers. The original English version of this instrument underwent a process of translation and cultural adaptation by a translator with knowledge of English and epilepsy. Subsequently, it was carried out the back-translation and the Portuguese version was compared to the original, analyzing discrepancies, thus obtaining the final version for the Brazilian population. Results: Participants were able to answer the questions. In four questions there was an association between the teenagers' educational level and the response pattern to the questionnaires. The authors found a strong positive correlation between the responses of adolescents and caregivers (RhoSpearman = 0.837; p < 0.001). The application of the questionnaire by the health team was feasible for all interviewed patients and their respective caregivers. Conclusion: The translation and application of the "Readiness Checklists" is feasible in Portuguese. Patients with lower educational levels felt less prepared for the transition than patients with higher educational levels, independently of age. Adolescents and caregivers showed similar perceptions regarding patients' abilities. The lists can be very useful tools to assess and plan the follow-up of the population of patients with epilepsy in the process of transition.

Analysis of intelligence profile,personality and behaviour of children with primary generalized epilepsy / 中国康复理论与实践

@#ObjectiveTo evaluate the intelligence profile,personality and behaviour disorders of children with primary generalized tonic and/or clonic seizures.MethodsUsing Chinese modification of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children,Eysenk Personality Questionnaire(EPQ),and Achenbach Child Behaviour Check List,neuropsychological assessment of 35 cases aged 6-14 years and the normals with the similar age and sex were makenand compared.ResultsExcept picture completion ,all the subtests scales of children with epilepsy were significantly lower than those of the controls (P<0.01). A significant difference of average FIQ(P<0.001) was observed between experimental group (85.86) and control group (103.60).There were 13 cases(37.14%) in experimental group whose FIQ were in broderline range, FIQ of 5 cases(14.29%) was in lower range,while none abnormal in the controls.The children with epilepsy had more abnormal behaviours than that of the controls(abnormal rates were 38.71% and 6.45% respectively).Statistical analysis showed no difference of EPQ scales between the two groups.Conclusions Children with primary generalized epilepsy maybe complicate with cognitive deficit and behaviour disorder.