Parental Coping and Childhood Epilepsy

Abstract

Parents of children with epilepsy, like parents of children with many other chronic conditions, are faced with a constant feeling of uncertainty about their child's condition. This uncertainty can lead to a decreased ability to cope as evidenced by increased stress levels, negative mood states, and impaired family functioning. Because altered coping in the parent may have a profound negative impact on the child's psychosocial adjustment to living with a chronic condition, it is important to identify ways to facilitate positive coping skills in the parent. The purpose of this review was to critically analyze the existing literature related to the challenges associated with parenting a child who has epilepsy. Interventions geared toward facilitating coping in parents will also be reviewed, and gaps in the literature will be identified. Lastly, future implications for nursing research will be discussed.

Parenting stress does not normalize after child's epilepsy surgery

“…Two of these scales, Role Restriction and Spouse, are part of the seven subscales constituting the so-called Parent domain, which reflects feeling inadequate for one's parenting task. This may be understood from the fact that seizures are, in the majority of cases, unpredictable, which induces uncertainty in parents [6] and a tendency to watch their child all the time to ensure his safety. Moreover, the feeling that fatigue and stresses and strains in the child may induce seizures [23] renders many parents less eager to go on family trips with this child, let alone to undertake spontaneous activities with this child or go out together and leave the child with a sitter.…”

“…Childhood epilepsy, particularly pharmacologically intractable epilepsy, is a risk factor par excellence for parenting stress [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Correlates of health‐related quality of life in children with drug resistant epilepsy

“…Within the pediatric epilepsy literature, several interventions incorporating both children and their families have been reported. 40 These interventions aimed to increase medical knowledge about epilepsy, as well as educate families about the management of their children's symptoms. 40 Three studies reported a postintervention increase in parent and child knowledge [41][42][43] ; two resulted in improved family functioning 42 or parental anxiety 44 ; two reported no impact on level of caregiver depression or anxiety 43,45 ; and one was not evaluated.…”

“…40 These interventions aimed to increase medical knowledge about epilepsy, as well as educate families about the management of their children's symptoms. 40 Three studies reported a postintervention increase in parent and child knowledge [41][42][43] ; two resulted in improved family functioning 42 or parental anxiety 44 ; two reported no impact on level of caregiver depression or anxiety 43,45 ; and one was not evaluated. 46 Beyond educating parents about the management of their children's epilepsy, our findings suggest that the implementation and evaluation of family centered care practices that address caregiver well-being and provide linkages to supportive community resources may result in more promising HRQL for children and families.…”

Childhood Age Epilepsy and Family

“…This uncertainty can lead to a decreased ability to cope as evidenced by increased stress levels, negative mood states, and impaired family functioning. Because altered coping in the parent may have a profound negative impact on the child's psychosocial adjustment to living with a chronic condition, it is important to identify ways to facilitate positive coping skills in the parent (Duffy, 2011).…”