Cognitive deficiency, parental relationship, and coping strategies are related with anxiety and depression among parents of children with epilepsy

Abstract

Background: The diagnosis of epilepsy in a child often and understandably causes psychological adjustment difficulties in the parents. To help parents of children with epilepsy cope with stress, it is important to understand how parents cope with the sickness of their child. The objective of this study was to assess factors related to the state of anxiety and depression among parents of children with epilepsy. Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study, and the data were collected through an anonymous, Internet-based survey platform between October 2018 and October 2019 from 250 participants aged 22-65 years. Participants were invited to fill questionnaires include socioeconomic questionnaire, anxiety, depression, and coping strategies scale. Result: Among the parents of children with epilepsy, 48.8% (122/250) had depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9] score >4) and 46.4% (116/250) had anxiety symptoms (7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder [GAD-7] score >5). Depression among parents of children with epilepsy was significantly associated with comorbidity (odds ratio [OR] = 0.392, 95% CI = 0.182-0.846), a poor parental relationship (OR = 0.283, 95% CI = 0.130-0.614), positive coping (OR = 0.947, 95% CI = 0.903-0.992), and negative coping (OR = 1.287, 95% CI = 1.179-1.405). Anxiety among parents of children with epilepsy was significantly associated with a poor parental relationship (OR = 0.416, 95% CI = 0.207-0.835) and negative coping (OR = 1.155, 95% CI = 1.087-1.228). Conclusions: The present study indicates the importance of couple support and providing effective coping to make parents of children with epilepsy more resilient in the presence of negative life events, especially for parents of children with comorbidity with cognitive deficiency. K E Y W O R D S combability, coping strategies, couple relationship, epilepsy, parents Highlights • Parents of children with epilepsy are at high risk of experiencing anxiety and depression.

Exploring Family Adjustment Among Parents of a Child With a Disability Attending Relationship Education

“…Parents identified feelings of social isolation and loneliness as well as a need for external social support (Downes et al, 2020;Marciano et al, 2015). Similar parental outcomes exist in families with child disabilities that range from visual impairment (Lupon et al, 2018) to epilepsy (Ren et al, 2022). Additional family stressors may include increased financial strain (Caicedo, 2014), increased parental and family distress (Masefield et al, 2020;Ozturk et al, 2014), lack of social support (Caicedo, 2014;Marciano et al, 2015), and increased risk for family fragmentation (Hartley et al, 2010(Hartley et al, , 2017.…”

Exploring Factors Associated with Quality of Life in Caregivers of Children and Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease and HIV: A Comparative Analysis

“…It is a commonly used instrument in primary care as it can offer practitioners a desirable numerical and “objective” diagnosis of depression and permits gauging of its severity [ 30 ]. PHQ-9 has demonstrated strong validity and reliability as well as greater adaptability even in African settings [ 31 , 32 ]. It is a quick, easy, accurate, and reliable measuring method for diagnosing depression and determining its severity.…”