Quality of life issues and occupational performance of persons with epilepsy

Abstract

Epilepsy causes restrictions in the performance of various daily activities. The aiming of this study was to investigate whether these restrictions affect the perceived quality of life. The assessments Quality of Life in Epilepsy-31 (QOLIE-31) and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) were applied in a sample that consisted of a single group of 34 subjects with at least two years of uncontrolled seizures. The results indicated that the most affected domains of QOLIE-31 were seizure worry, 29.77 (±21.72), and effects of drugs, 49.75 (±28.58), and for the COPM, the average of performance and satisfaction were respectively 3.10 (±3.07) and 4.45 (±3.29), and performance limitations most frequently cited were maintain employment (18), left home alone (15) and courses (15). The application of the Spearman correlation coefficient showed that the three main performance limitations posed by the COPM, especially regarding the level of satisfaction, influence the perception of quality of life. Thus, occupational performance proves to be an important area of intervention with subjects with epilepsy.

A pessoa com epilepsia: percepções acerca da doença e implicações na qualidade de vida

“…The impact of epilepsy on individuals' lives was also the object of study of authors (30) concerned with investigating the relationship between the limitations caused by the disease and the perception of QoL. In compliance with the findings of the present study, the most common complaints reported by participants in that previous study were difficulty in getting or even keeping a job, dependence on other individuals for social life, and difficulty in studying.…”

The Social and Occupational Functioning Scale for Epilepsy (SOFSE): A brief measure of functional status in a Taiwanese sample with epilepsy

“…However, since many patients may not engage in these roles, Weissman (1975) suggested that a measure of social functioning should ideally assess more fundamental characteristics, such as level of independence (competence and performance), social engagement, interpersonal functioning, and daily activities (Birchwood et al, 1990;Priebe, 2007). Moreover, for PWE, the disease may seriously affect the acquisition and maintenance of employment because of social biases against PWE and secondary epilepsy or treatment-related behavioral and cognitive problems (Lim et al, 2009;Nickel et al, 2012).It has been highlighted that both medical and psychosocial management in PWE are essential for guiding costeffective intervention (Schachter, 2010;Taylor et al, 2011); therefore, investigators may still need to evaluate functional status in the physical, cognitive, and social domains in addition to assessing QoL (Suurmeijer et al, 2001;Koponen et al, 2007;Gois et al, 2011). By measuring the level of performance, a social functioning scale cannot only provide clinicians with functional-based data for identifying patients' conditions, but can also monitor the course of the disease and patients' response to therapy.…”

Quality of Life and Sleep in Young Male Patients with Epilepsy

“…Nickel ve ark. [26] iki yıldır nöbet-leri devam eden hastalarda EYK-31 bileşenlerinden en çok nöbet endişesi ve ilaç etkilerinin etkilendiğini saptamışlar. Bizim çalışmamızda da aylık nöbet sayısı sık olanların seyrek olanlara göre nöbet geçirme endişeleri ve tükenmişlikleri daha fazla bulunmuş ve yaşam kaliteleri istatistiksel olarak olmasa da daha düşük bulunmuştur.…”