Abstracts

RATIONALE:Between 15-30% of people with epilepsy will develop anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and poor coping mechanisms as a response to the condition and its treatment. Understanding the process of adjustment may be an important factor in the management of people with epilepsy. The purpose of the study was to determine the relevant contribution of clinical, demographic and psychosocial variables to adjustment in adults with epilepsy recruited from four European countries. METHODS:2345 adult patients with epilepsy were recruited from epilepsy support groups across four countries in Europe: UK; France; Germany and the Netherlands. Each participant completed a standardised battery of self completed questionnaires. RESULTS:Almost half of the respondents reported that they had difficulty adjusting to limitations imposed by their epilepsy and 17% felt very stigmatised by it. There were between country differences, with respondents from France reporting higher scores on the Adjustment to Illness Scale, Impact and Stigma scales (p<0.001). A shorter duration of epilepsy, better knowledge and less stigma was associated with higher (better) adjustment scores (p<0.001). Higher scores on the Stigma and Knowledge scale were identified as significant predictor variables for scores on the AIS from three of the four countries. CONCLUSIONS:This study provides some evidence to support the concept that the process of adjustment relies not only on the individuals perception of symptoms but the social and cultural context in which that condition exists. There were clear differences between countries on a number of scales suggesting that how people adjust may be partially dependant on how that condition is perceived by the individual, their family and their country. This work was supported by a project grant from Sanofi Synthelabo.