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Published on: September 20, 2024
Met and unmet needs of children with epilepsy in a paediatric tertiary care setting
1Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka. hemamali_p@yahoo.com
Insights
This study found that while most children with epilepsy had controlled seizures, many experienced unmet health needs, particularly behavioral and social issues. Improved communication and more information are crucial for better care.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Child Health Services Research
Background:
- Epilepsy in children presents complex health needs beyond seizure control.
- Tertiary care settings manage children with epilepsy, but their comprehensive health needs may be overlooked.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the extent of met and unmet health needs in pediatric epilepsy patients.
- To evaluate the quality of healthcare received by children with epilepsy in an outpatient setting.
Main Methods:
- Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children with epilepsy.
- Interviews focused on physical, behavioral, social, and educational impairments identified by parents.
Main Results:
- Majority of children achieved satisfactory seizure control with minimal side effects from single anticonvulsants.
- A significant number of children experienced behavioral problems, with social and educational difficulties also noted.
- Parents reported low satisfaction with interventions for these issues and desired more consultation time and information.
Conclusions:
- Effective management of childhood epilepsy requires addressing a wide spectrum of health needs.
- Enhanced communication between healthcare providers and parents regarding non-seizure-related issues is essential.
- Improving the quality of care for children with epilepsy necessitates greater awareness and proactive intervention for associated impairments.
Objective:
To investigate the extent to which the health needs were met or unmet in children with epilepsy attending a tertiary care outpatient setting.
Patients And Method:
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.
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