Psychological resilience influences subjective memory in epilepsy patients through perceived stress: A mediation...

Memory impairment, particularly subjective memory complaints, is common among patients with epilepsy and significantly affects their quality of life and treatment adherence. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing subjective memory in epilepsy, with a specific focus on the roles of psychological resilience and perceived stress, and to examine whether perceived stress mediates the relationship between psychological resilience and subjective memory.

A total of 145 patients with epilepsy were prospectively enrolled at the Epilepsy Center of a tertiary teaching hospital. Comprehensive assessments were conducted to evaluate psychological resilience, perceived stress, subjective and objective memory performance, and demographic and clinical characteristics. Statistical analyses included Pearson or Spearman correlation, group comparisons, and multiple regression analyses to identify the influencing factors. The mediation effects were tested using the bootstrap method with 5000 resamples.

Subjective memory was positively correlated with psychological resilience (r = .441, p < .001) and negatively correlated with perceived stress (r = -.574, p < .001). Regression analysis indicated that psychological factors remained significant predictors after controlling for the relevant covariates. Mediation analysis demonstrated that perceived stress exerted a significant indirect effect on the association between psychological resilience and subjective memory (ACME = .1554, 95% CI [.03, .31], p = .015), which accounted for 32.96% of the total effect.

Psychological resilience and perceived stress are significant contributors to subjective memory in epilepsy. The mediating role of perceived stress suggests its potential as a target for psychological intervention.