Self-management education for children with epilepsy

Self-management education has been shown to improve the quality of life of children and young people with chronic illnesses. It has been suggested that self-management education may improve seizure control and other outcomes in children and young people with epilepsy.

To review systematically the research literature on the effectiveness of self-management education in improving health outcomes for children and young people with epilepsy.

We searched the Cochrane Epilepsy Group's Specialised Register (April 2007), MEDLINE (Ovid) (1966 to February 2007), EMBASE (Ovid) (1980 to February 2007), CINAHL (Dialog) (1980 to February 2007), and PsycINFO (Dialog) (1887 to February 2007). We also handsearched Epilepsia and conference abstracts and proceedings. Experts in the field were contacted to identify any additional trials. No language restriction was imposed.

Randomised trials of self-management education programmes for children or young people with epilepsy.

At least two review authors independently assessed the quality of each study and extracted data.

Only one trial involving 167 children was identified that evaluated the effect of a child-centred model of training for the self-management of two chronic illnesses, asthma and epilepsy. The trial was not assessed as being of high quality and the methods used to analyse and report the data did not enable us to precisely determine the effect of the intervention. However, improvements were seen in seizure frequency and other outcomes, such as knowledge and behaviour.

Self-management education programmes that deliver a child-centred model of training, may improve knowledge about epilepsy, certain behavioural outcomes, and reduce seizure frequency in children and young people with epilepsy. However, based on the evidence reviewed, we are not able to determine how effective it is, or what the key components of the programme should be.