Helping parents and children with epilepsy cope successfully: the outcome of a group programme for parents.
This paper describes a study to determine the effectiveness of a group programme for parents designed to reduce the psychosocial morbidity among children with epilepsy and their families. The participants were the parents of 108 children attending the seizure clinic at a children's hospital. The first part of the project had shown that half of the children and their families had considerable morbidity. Despite the high rate of psychosocial morbidity among these children and their families, only 35% of the parents expressed an interest in participation in the intervention programme, with only 12% attending any meetings. The latter were mainly the small number of parents whose children had severe intractable epilepsy as well as educational and family problems. Many parents did, however, request more information about epilepsy and for the provision of a counselling service. The latter is likely to be most beneficial in the months following diagnosis.
Hoare
P
P
Department of Child and Family Psychiatry, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, U.K.
Kerley
S
S
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group; D012606:Scotland; D012917:Social Adjustment