Self-esteem and sense of coherence in young people with uncomplicated epilepsy: a 5-year follow-up.
OBJECTIVE
It is not clear how the psychosocial well-being of young people with epilepsy is affected by growing up with the condition. We studied self-esteem and sense of coherence in a group of young adults with epilepsy and compared the results with those obtained 5 years earlier.


METHODS
The participants (n = 97) answered questionnaires regarding self-esteem, sense of coherence, and medical characteristics.


RESULTS
Self-esteem and sense of coherence both decreased during the 5-year study period. Self-esteem was correlated to epilepsy-related variables. Participants who were seizure free scored higher on sense of coherence, but there was no association between seizure frequency and sense of coherence among participants who still experienced seizures.


CONCLUSIONS
We found that there was a decline in both sense of coherence and self-esteem over time for young adults with epilepsy. Growing up with epilepsy can lead to impairment of sense of coherence. Sense of coherence does not significantly correlate with epilepsy-related factors, but mirrors the phenomenon of epilepsy. Self-esteem is associated with such epilepsy-related factors as seizure frequency.
Division of Neurology, Medical Faculty/IKE, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. helena.gauffin@lio.se
Helena
H
Gauffin
Anne-Marie
AM
Landtblom
Lena
L
Räty
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
D000927:Anticonvulsants