Abstracts

Rationale: In epilepsy research, outcomes of treatment, rather than satisfaction with treatment, have been the primary focus of measurement. However, patient satisfaction influences health-related decision-making, medical adherence, and follow through with treatment planning. Our aim was to describe the literature surrounding the measurement of patient satisfaction with epilepsy therapy. Methods: Medline, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled, and Embase were searched using sub-headings and keywords related to patient, client, and consumer satisfaction, and treatment outcomes. Two independent reviewers screened abstracts and full-text and abstracted data from eligible studies. Included studies measured patient satisfaction with epilepsy therapy, were original research, and described how satisfaction was assessed. Analyses were carried out to 1) assess the purpose and sample characteristics, 2) summarize satisfaction scale development and content, and 3) assess reported outcomes. Results: Of 6368 abstracts identified by the search, 125 were reviewed in full-text, with 16 meeting all eligibility criteria. The median number of patients included in the studies was 112 (range: 18-1960). Assessments were primarily completed in adult patients and satisfaction in children was measured using parental responses. Two studies used validated scales for assessing general treatment satisfaction, which address any current medications. These were the Satisfaction with Medicines Questionnaire (SATMED-Q) and the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4). Six studies used a single question to measure satisfaction using Likert scale ratings. The remaining 10 studies commonly included domains related to adverse events (8/10) and effectiveness of the therapy (7/10). Others included preference, contentedness, compliance, and the number of tablets. Six studies assessed satisfaction at multiple time points and all reported an increase in satisfaction over time. One study on satisfaction with current medication use found that over 90% of patients would prefer to take antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) only once per day, with only 10% believing that taking them once a day only means they are less effective, and 44% believing that more side effects will be experienced with more frequent AED administrations. Another study found that 63.8% of participants were satisfied with the ease and convenience of their treatment regimen, with 62.9% reporting undesirable medication effects. Another study found that well-controlled patients were more highly satisfied (79.1%) with the effectiveness of their epilepsy treatment than those patients who were poorly controlled (67.0%). Conclusions: We did not identify any systematically developed and validated tools for assessing satisfaction with epilepsy-specific treatment. Whether a disease-treatment specific tool or general measure of treatment satisfaction is superior should be investigated. Such a tool would aid in clinical management of patients with epilepsy and serve as an important outcome measure in clinical research.