Commentary on ‘Care delivery and self‐management strategies for children with epilepsy’

Abstract

This is a commentary of Cochrane review, published in this issue of EBCH, first published as: Lindsay B, Bradley PM. Care delivery and self‐management strategies for children with epilepsy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 12. Art. No.: CD006245. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006245.pub2.Further information for this Cochrane review is available in this issue of EBCH in the accompanying Summary article. Copyright © 2011 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The Cochrane Collaboration

Systematic review of epilepsy self‐management interventions integrated with a synthesis of children and young people's views and experiences

“…Recent commentary (Smith & Wagner ) on a Cochrane review (Lindsay & Bradley ) to determine the effectiveness of care delivery and self‐management strategies for children with epilepsy highlighted the importance of clearly defining self‐management and that clear conceptualization of self‐management rarely translated to measuring outcomes. The commentary brought to readers' attention that only objective and medical outcome measures were included in the search strategy, such as seizure frequency and severity, appropriateness and volume of medication prescribed, child or family reported knowledge of information and advice received from professionals, child or family reports of health and quality of life (including side‐effects of medication), objective measures of general health status, objective measures of social or psychological functioning and costs of care or treatment.…”

“…By using this specific search strategy important intervention studies were omitted. In contrast, broader self‐management outcomes of particular relevance to nursing include children and young people's coping skills, self‐efficacy for seizure management, lifestyle behaviour change, problem‐solving and medication adherence (Smith & Wagner ).…”

A comparison of epilepsy self-management needs: Provider and patient perspectives

“…The self-management concept has evolved over the last four decades and undergone varying definitions and forms [4][5][6], but the underlying principle is that the daily management of the condition is handled by the patient versus a healthcare provider. The establishment of patient-centered outcomes has focused on health and psychosocial status (e.g., mood, anxiety, self-management ability, perceived self-efficacy, and quality of life), but the role of the patient in epilepsy self-management program development has not been consistently and explicitly defined.…”

Self-management in epilepsy: Why and how you should incorporate self-management in your practice

“…Self-management also facilitates positive health—inclusive of physical, mental, and social resources that actively promote well-being [12]. Epilepsy self-management domains (e.g., treatment adherence, tracking seizures and medication side effects, stress reduction, sleep, safety, communication) have been extensively reviewed [10,11,13]. …”