title: The level of negative emotions, coping with stress and social support for parents of children suffering from epilepsy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Child epilepsy can be source of negative emotions and stress in pa- rents. Social support is an external personal resource coupled with the process of coping with difficult situations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study evaluation the severity of negative emotions and ways of dealing with the stress of parents of children with epilepsy in relation to the received social support.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in one of the children's hospitals in Małopolska, on 213 parents (148 women and 65 men) aged 21 to 66 years. The study used: HADS-M (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale Modified HADS-M, BSSS (Berlin Social Suport Scale), Inventory for Measurement Coping Mini-COPE and the author's questionnaire. Statistical analysis used Pearson and Spearman's correlation and Mann-Whitney test and t-test. Calculations were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 Statistical significance was p ≤0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The dominant emotion that accompanied the parents was anxiety. Parents have used more strategies based on active coping, and seeking emotional support or instrumental. It has been shown there is a correlation between the level of intensity of negative emotions and social support, and also correlation between social support and ways of coping with stress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parents expressed negative emotions but not of high severity which may be related to the choice of active coping strategies. Steps should be taken not only to assess the prevalence of negative emotions in a group of parents, but also to reduce the level of their intensity by exposing the importance of social support.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wojtas
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oskedra
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nursing, Institute of Nursing and Midwifery, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland. grazyna.cepuch@uj.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cepuch
authors.forename: Elzbiera
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Świderska
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015984:Causality; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: child’s illness,; coping strategies,; negative emotions; parents; social support