Impact of choice of coping strategies and family functioning on psychosocial function of young people with epilepsy

Abstract

Both medical and psychological factors have an important impact upon the psychosocial functioning of young people with epilepsy. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that distinguish young people with epilepsy and high psychosocial functioning from those with lower levels. The participants were 114 young people (40 males, 74 females) with active epilepsy and a mean age of 17.92years (SD=3.90) who completed either a paper (60.5%) or a web-based survey (39.5%) comprising demographic, medical, and psychosocial measures. Psychosocial measures included family functioning, adolescent coping, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. A latent class analysis produced two psychosocial functioning groups based on participants' scores for anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Young people were more likely to be members of the group with poor psychosocial functioning if they had a seizure in the last month (Wald=5.63, p<.05), came from families with lower levels of communication and problem solving (Wald=5.28, p<.05), and made greater use of non-productive (emotion-focused) coping strategies such as wishful thinking, withdrawal, and worry (Wald=12.00, p<.01). The findings suggest that, in addition to standard medical treatment, clinicians may promote better outcomes by strengthening family functioning and encouraging less use of nonproductive coping strategies.