Met and unmet needs of children with epilepsy in a paediatric tertiary care setting.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the extent to which the health needs were met or unmet in children with epilepsy attending a tertiary care outpatient setting.


METHODS
A semi-structured interview was used to collect relevant information from the parents. It focused on ascertaining the quality of health care received by the children, including the extent to which attention was given to epilepsy related physical, behavioural, social and educational impairments that were identified by the parents.


RESULTS
There was satisfactory seizure control in the majority. Most children received only one anticonvulsant and side-effects were reported to be minimal. A large majority had behavioural problems, and social and educational difficulties to a lesser extent. Parents were concerned about the implications of these problems, but there was little communication about them in the doctor-patient contact. Even where the problems were communicated, parent satisfaction about the interventions was low. Parents identified the availability of more consultation time and provision of more information on epilepsy as their expectations from doctors.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that awareness and communication about the multiple health problems of children with epilepsy are necessary to improve the quality of health care given to them.
Perera
H
H
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka. hemamali_p@yahoo.com
Rodrigo
G D I
GD
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care