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Jay MA, Sanders-Ellis D, Blackburn R, Deighton J, Gilbert R. Umbrella systematic review finds limited evidence that school absence explains the association between chronic health conditions and lower academic attainment. Front Public Health 2023; 11:1122769. [PMID: 37361156 PMCID: PMC10288991 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1122769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Absence from school is more frequent for children with chronic health conditions (CHCs) than their peers and may be one reason why average academic attainment scores are lower among children with CHCs. Methods We determined whether school absence explains the association between CHCs and academic attainment through a systematic review of systematic reviews of comparative studies involving children with or without CHCs and academic attainment. We extracted results from any studies that tested whether school absence mediated the association between CHCs and academic attainment. Results We identified 27 systematic reviews which included 441 unique studies of 7, 549, 267 children from 47 jurisdictions. Reviews either covered CHCs generally or were condition-specific (e.g., chronic pain, depression, or asthma). Whereas reviews found an association between a range of CHCs (CHCs generally, cystic fibrosis, hemophilia A, end-stage renal disease (pre-transplant), end-stage kidney disease (pre-transplant), spina bifida, congenital heart disease, orofacial clefts, mental disorders, depression, and chronic pain) and academic attainment, and though it was widely hypothesized that absence was a mediator in these associations, only 7 of 441 studies tested this, and all findings show no evidence of absence mediation. Conclusion CHCs are associated with lower academic attainment, but we found limited evidence of whether school absence mediates this association. Policies that focus solely on reducing school absence, without adequate additional support, are unlikely to benefit children with CHCs. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=285031, identifier: CRD42021285031.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A. Jay
- UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, Population, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - David Sanders-Ellis
- UCL Institute of Education, Social Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ruth Blackburn
- UCL Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica Deighton
- The Evidence Based Practice Unit, University College London and Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ruth Gilbert
- UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, Population, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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2
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Rainer LJ, Kronbichler M, Kuchukhidze G, Trinka E, Langthaler PB, Kronbichler L, Said-Yuerekli S, Kirschner M, Zimmermann G, Höfler J, Schmid E, Braun M. Emotional Word Processing in Patients With Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. Front Neurol 2022; 13:875950. [PMID: 35720080 PMCID: PMC9201996 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.875950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective According to Panksepp's hierarchical emotion model, emotion processing relies on three functionally and neuroanatomically distinct levels. These levels comprise subcortical networks (primary level), the limbic system (secondary level), and the neocortex (tertiary level) and are suggested to serve differential emotional processing. We aimed to validate and extend previous evidence of discrete and dimensional emotion processing in patient with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Methods We recorded brain activity of patients with JME and healthy controls in response to lexical decisions to words reflecting the discrete emotion fear and the affective dimension negativity previously suggested to rely on different brain regions and to reflect different levels of processing. In all study participants, we tested verbal cognitive functions, as well as the relationship of psychiatric conditions, seizure types and duration of epilepsy and emotional word processing. Results In support of the hierarchical emotion model, we found an interaction of discrete emotion and affective dimensional processing in the right amygdala likely to reflect secondary level processing. Brain activity related to affective dimensional processing was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus and is suggested to reflect tertiary level processing. Psychiatric conditions, type of seizure nor mono- vs. polytherapy and duration of epilepsy within patients did not have any effect on the processing of emotional words. In addition, no differences in brain activity or response times between patients and controls were observed, despite neuropsychological testing revealed slightly decreased verbal intelligence, verbal fluency and reading speed in patients with JME. Significance These results were interpreted to be in line with the hierarchical emotion model and to highlight the amygdala's role in processing biologically relevant stimuli, as well as to suggest a semantic foundation of affective dimensional processing in prefrontal cortex. A lack of differences in brain activity of patients with JME and healthy controls in response to the emotional content of words could point to unaffected implicit emotion processing in patients with JME.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Johannes Rainer
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Martin Kronbichler
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultaet, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Paris-Lodron University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Giorgi Kuchukhidze
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Eugen Trinka
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT–University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tirol, Austria
- Karl-Landsteiner Institute for Neurorehabilitation and Space Neurology, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Patrick Benjamin Langthaler
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Mathematics, Paris-Lodron University, Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultaet, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Lisa Kronbichler
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Sarah Said-Yuerekli
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultaet, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Paris-Lodron University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Margarita Kirschner
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Georg Zimmermann
- Team Biostatistics and Big Medical Data, IDA Lab Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
- Research and Innovation Management, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Julia Höfler
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Elisabeth Schmid
- Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler Medical Centre, Paracelsus Medical University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Member of the European Reference Network, Epicare, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Mario Braun
- Department of Psychology, Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultaet, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Paris-Lodron University, Salzburg, Austria
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Perazzo D, Moore R, Kasparian NA, Rodts M, Horowitz-Kraus T, Crosby L, Turpin B, Beck AF, Hutton J. Chronic pediatric diseases and risk for reading difficulties: a narrative review with recommendations. Pediatr Res 2022; 92:966-978. [PMID: 35121848 PMCID: PMC9586865 DOI: 10.1038/s41390-022-01934-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Literacy is a major social determinant of health, rooted in skills that develop during early childhood. Children arriving at kindergarten unprepared to learn to read are more likely to have low reading proficiency thereafter. General and health literacy are highly correlated, affecting understanding of health conditions, treatment adherence, and transition to self-care and adult healthcare services. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends literacy and school readiness promotion during well-visits and neurodevelopmental surveillance is emphasized across primary and subspecialty care. While genetic and environmental risk factors for reading difficulties are well-established, risks related to complex and chronic medical conditions are less appreciated and under-researched. This review applies an eco-bio-developmental framework to explore literacy across five complex chronic conditions affecting millions of children worldwide: asthma, cancer, congenital heart disease, epilepsy, and sickle cell disease. In each, integration of an efficient reading brain network may be impacted by direct factors, such as ischemia, anesthesia, and/or medications, and also indirect factors, such as altered parent-child routines, hospital stays, and missed school. By integrating literacy into care management plans for affected children, pediatric primary care and specialty providers are poised to identify risks early, target guidance and interventions, and improve academic and health outcomes. IMPACT: While genetic and environmental risk factors for reading difficulties are well-established, risks related to complex and/or chronic medical conditions such as asthma, cancer, congenital heart disease, epilepsy, and sickle cell disease are substantial, less appreciated, and under-researched. General and health literacy are highly correlated, with implications for the understanding one's health condition, treatment adherence, and transitioning to self-care, which is especially important for children with complex and/or chronic illness. Pediatric primary care and specialty providers are poised to integrate reading and literacy into care management plans for children with complex and/or chronic illness, including early screening, guidance, support, and interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna Perazzo
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA
| | - Ryan Moore
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593The Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA
| | - Nadine A. Kasparian
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593The Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA ,grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Center for Heart Disease and Mental Health, Heart Institute and Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA
| | - Megan Rodts
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593The Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA ,grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA ,grid.6451.60000000121102151Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology and Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Lori Crosby
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training and Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA
| | - Brian Turpin
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Division of Oncology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA
| | - Andrew F. Beck
- grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA ,grid.24827.3b0000 0001 2179 9593Division of Hospital Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH USA
| | - John Hutton
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA. .,Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
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Kraus D, Vannest J, Arya R, Hutton JS, Leach JL, Mangano FT, Tenney JR, Byars AW, DeWitt TG, Horowitz-Kraus T. Reading in children with drug-resistant epilepsy was related to functional connectivity in cognitive control regions. Acta Paediatr 2020; 109:2105-2111. [PMID: 31999871 DOI: 10.1111/apa.15201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2019] [Revised: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
AIM This study aimed to define whether individuals with drug-resistant focal epilepsy also used regions related to cognitive control to facilitate reading. METHODS We focused on patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy in 2011-2014, who were aged 8-20 years and were being treated at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, USA. They performed a verb generation functional magnetic resonance imaging task known to involve language and cognitive control, as well as a formal reading assessment. The reading scores were correlated with functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) using seed-to-voxel analysis. RESULTS There were 81 potential patients and 13 (seven females) met the inclusion criteria. Their age at seizure onset was 0-13 years, and they had a mean age of 12.66 ± 3.17 years at the time of the study. Individuals with epilepsy demonstrated average intelligence and word reading ability. Their reading scores were positively correlated with functional connectivity between the ACC and regions related to emotional processing (right amygdala), learning and language processing (left cerebellum) and visual processing. CONCLUSION Our results support the role that the ACC plays in proficient reading among children with drug-resistant epilepsy, even in those with epileptogenic foci in areas related to language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dror Kraus
- Institute of Child Neurology, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Petah-Tikva, Israel
| | - Jennifer Vannest
- Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Ravindra Arya
- Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - John S Hutton
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - James L Leach
- Division of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Francesco T Mangano
- Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Jeffrey R Tenney
- Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Anna W Byars
- Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Thomas G DeWitt
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.,Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel.,Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
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5
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MacAllister WS, Désiré N, Vasserman M, Dalrymple J, Salinas L, Brooks BL. The use of the MSVT in children and adolescents with epilepsy. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-CHILD 2020; 9:323-328. [PMID: 32297798 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2020.1750127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Pediatric neuropsychologists are increasingly recognizing the importance of performance validity testing during evaluations. The use of such measures to detect insufficient effort is of particular importance in pediatric epilepsy evaluations, where test results are often used to guide surgical decisions and failure to detect poor task engagement can result in postsurgical cognitive decline. The present investigation assesses the utility of the Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT) in 104 clinically referred children and adolescents with epilepsy. Though the overall failure rate was 15.4% of the total group, children with 2nd grade or higher reading skills (a requirement of the task) passed at a very high rate (96.6%). Of the three failures, two were unequivocally deemed true positives, while the third failed due to extreme somnolence during testing. Notably, for those with ≥2nd grade reading levels, MSVT validity indices were unrelated to patient age, intellectual functioning, or age of epilepsy onset, while modest relations were seen with specific memory measures, number of epilepsy medications, and seizure frequency. Despite these associations, however, this did not result in more failures in this population of children and adolescents with substantial neurologic involvement, as pass rates exceeded 92% for those with intellectual disability, high seizure frequency, high medication burden, and even prior surgical resection of critical memory structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- William S MacAllister
- Neuropsychology Service, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Canada.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.,Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada.,Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Naddley Désiré
- Neuropsychology Service, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Canada
| | - Marsha Vasserman
- Neuropsychology Service, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Canada.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.,Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada.,Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | | | - Lilian Salinas
- New York University Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, New York, New York, USA
| | - Brian L Brooks
- Neuropsychology Service, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Canada.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.,Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada.,Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
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6
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Gonzalez LM, Wrennall JA. A neuropsychological model for the pre-surgical evaluation of children with focal-onset epilepsy: An integrated approach. Seizure 2020; 77:29-39. [DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2018.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2018] [Revised: 11/28/2018] [Accepted: 12/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
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Oyegbile TO. The role of task-based neural activation research in understanding cognitive deficits in pediatric epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav 2019; 99:106332. [PMID: 31399340 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2019.05.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2019] [Revised: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 05/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Children with epilepsy can experience significant cognitive dysfunction that can lead to academic underachievement. Traditionally believed to be primarily due to the effects of factors such as the chronicity of epilepsy, medication effects, or the location of the primary epileptogenic lesion;, recent evidence has indicated that disruption of cognition-specific distributed neural networks may play a significant role as well. Specifically, over the last decade, researchers have begun to characterize the mechanisms underlying disrupted cognitive substrates by evaluating neural network abnormalities observed during specific cognitive tasks, using task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This targeted review assesses the current literature investigating the relationship between neural network abnormalities and cognitive deficits in pediatric epilepsy. The findings indicate that there are indeed neural network abnormalities associated with deficits in executive function, language, processing speed, and memory. Overall, cognitive dysfunction in pediatric epilepsy is associated with a decrease in neural network activation/deactivation as well as increased recruitment of brain regions not typically related to the specific cognitive task under investigation. The research to date has focused primarily on children with focal epilepsy syndromes with small sample sizes and differing research protocols. More extensive research in children with a wider representation of epilepsy syndromes (including generalized epilepsy syndromes) is necessary to fully understand these relationships and begin to identify underlying cognitive phenotypes that may account for the variability observed across children with epilepsy. Furthermore, more uniformity in fMRI protocols and neuropsychological tasks would be ideal to advance this literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Temitayo O Oyegbile
- Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C., United States of America.
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Lai ST, Lim KS, Tang V, Low WY. Positive psychological interventions for people with epilepsy: An assessment on factors related to intervention participation. Epilepsy Behav 2018; 80:90-97. [PMID: 29414564 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2017] [Revised: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 12/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Positive psychological interventions (PPI) are increasingly employed as a coping strategy with physical and mental conditions, including neurological diseases. Its effectiveness on improving wellbeing in people with epilepsy (PWE) has been shown in a few studies. This study aimed to explore factors related to participants' willingness to engage in psychological interventions from the perspective of patients with epilepsy. METHODS Participants answered a needs assessment questionnaire eliciting information about their illness perception (Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Brief-IPQ)), emotions (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)), willingness to participate in psychological interventions, preferences in types of PPI and intervention designs, as well as barriers in seeking mental health services. RESULTS A total of 154 patients with epilepsy participated, with a mean age of 37.3years (range 16-86years). Most patients had focal epilepsy (68.2%), and drug-resistant (59.1%). Majority (71.4%) of them indicated a strong willingness to participate in PPI. Out of nine types of PPI, character strengths, mindfulness-based and expressive-based interventions were highly preferred. Those with negative illness perception (p=0.001), anxiety (p=0.004), and being unemployed (p=0.048) were more willing to participate in PPI. Most participants preferred group rather than individual session, and a shorter duration (30min) was favored by most. CONCLUSION This study captured the self-report willingness to participate in psychological interventions. Findings suggested that psychological interventions delivered in short-group session were highly preferred. Future study is required to determine the feasibility of such design for patients with epilepsy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siew-Tim Lai
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Kheng-Seang Lim
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
| | - Venus Tang
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hospital Authority, Hong Kong; Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Wah-Yun Low
- Research Management Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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