Abstracts

Childhood chronic illness can impose a burden in the lives of families. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships among family variables and health condition in children with new-onset seizures and a control group of children with asthma. The specific research question was: How do family variables change over time in relation to health condition group (no additional seizures, additional seizures, or asthma)? We followed 3 groups of children (101 had no additional seizures between 3-24 months, 95 had at least one additional seizure between 3-24 months, and 103 with asthma) age 8 to 14 years over a 2-year period. Baseline data for the previous six months were collected within 6 weeks of a child having a first seizure or being placed on daily asthma medications. Repeated measures analyses of variance were done to investigate the effect of health condition variables on the family variables of environment (mastery, satisfaction with family relationships, esteem/communication), parent behaviors (child autonomy, family life/leisure, child support, condition management confidence, child discipline), and parent affect (stigma, mood, needs for information/support, worries/concerns) over time (baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months). Parents of children with no recurrent seizures had the fewest worries/concerns and needs for information/support, and the lowest perceptions of stigma at all four times compared to parents of children with recurrent seizures or asthma. Family life/leisure was highest in the families of children with no additional seizures at all times. Across time, parent mood was lowest in the additional seizures group and highest in the no additional seizures group. At 6 months, parent confidence in disciplining their child was significantly higher in the asthma group than in the no additional seizure group, but at 24 months was significantly higher in asthma group than in the additional seizure group. Epilepsy and asthma are chronic conditions of childhood that can be difficult for families. Our findings show that families of children who have no additional seizures are generally doing better than families of children with either recurrent seizures or asthma. These families have the fewest problems related to the family environment and parent behavior and affect. The recurrent seizures and asthma groups were relatively similar with the exception that parents of children with recurrent seizures had less confidence in their ability to discipline their children at 24 months. In the clinical setting parents of children with recurrent seizures should be assessed for mood and concerns related to disciplining their child. (Supported by NINDS 22416.)