Psychosocial adjustment of adults with epilepsy

Abstract

The Washington Psychosocial Seizure Inventory (WPSI), a newly developed instrument that assesses psychosocial functioning of adults with epilepsy, was administered to 54 clients in an outpatient epilepsy clinic. Forty-four questionnaires were valid for analysis. Serious adjustment problems were identified in the sample in four areas: emotional adjustment, interpersonal adjustment, adjustment to seizures, and overall psychosocial functioning. Variables found to be significantly related to psychosocial adjustment were level of education, seizure frequency, and employment status. This pilot study suggests that the WPSI might be useful clinically to identify areas of psychosocial adjustment in which clinical interventions might be needed.