Views of adolescents and their parents on mobile apps for epilepsy self-management

New technologies are ubiquitous in our everyday lives, and this is especially true for teenagers. Very few mobile apps have been designed for adolescents with epilepsy. In order to better understand their expectations as well as those of their parents, we conducted a survey on this topic.

The survey consisted of an anonymous self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to adolescents with epilepsy aged 10 to 18 years old and their parents. Questionnaires contained 15 questions including 8 multiple choice questions, 5 groups of multiple questions with a rating scale ranging from 1 to 6, and 2 open-ended questions covering the scope of the interest of epilepsy self-management apps, seizure and epilepsy management, antiseizure medications, and information on epilepsy.

Surveys were answered by 17 teenagers and 19 parents. It showed that adolescents embrace new technologies. Parents' highest expectations regarding mobile apps contents were seizure management and emergency information, while adolescents were expecting contents on epilepsy daily life, as well as a tool that would improve antiseizure medication compliance.

Parents and adolescents' expectations on the content of an epilepsy app were different.