Epilepsy, stigma, and family

Epilepsy is surrounded by prejudice and stigma. Little is known about the perception of stigma by cohabiting relatives (CR) of people with epilepsy (PWE). The study investigated whether the Stigma Scale of Epilepsy (SSE) scores of 90 CR and 148 adult PWE were related to the PWE's clinical aspects and QOLIE-31 at a significance level of p<0.05. The SSE scores of the CR were equivalent to those of PWE dyads (ICC=0.385, p=0.001). Cohabiting relatives of PWE with depressive disorder perceived more stigma (t-test: p=0.038). Higher perceived stigma by PWE was significantly related to exclusively generalized seizures (p=0.005), longer disease duration (p=0.002), and higher perception of stigma by CR in the linear regression model. Both PWE and CR have high perception of stigma, which is related to clinical aspects. Higher perceptions of stigma by PWE and CR are associated with worse QoL in PWE.