Efficacy of group intervention in the psycho social care of patients with epilepsy

Abstract

Epilepsy is a chronic brain disease with serious psycho-social complications. The psycho-social implications of epilepsy are more disabling than the seizures. Psychoeducationalgroup intervention as a novel approach for patients with epilepsy and their family members has been in practice in the Centre for Comprehensive Epilepsy Care, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology (SCTIMST) in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, India for the past 17 years. Yoga- meditation (Pranayama) has also been practi~ed in this center for the past 4 years with proven efficacy in seizure reduction- Design: The study followed a prospective, randomized experimental research design involving two experimental groups (psycho-education and meditation) and a common control group. Tools used: Eight scales I inventories were used to assess the efficacy of the interventions.0~1 of the eight scales, two scales namely: EPSES and QOLIE-31 are translated from English to Malayalam and standardized by the investigator using 440 patients with epilepsy (220 patients for each scale). Subjects for Experimental Study: Thirty six patients (20 males and 16 females), age range 16 35 years with an established diagnosis of epilepsy with at least two seizures during the past one year, Interventions: 1. Psycho-educational group sessions for patients with epilepsy and their family members. 2, Pranayama (Yoga- Meditation) for 20 minutes twice daily (morning and evening). Results: Out of the 28 dependent psycho-social variables tested with different scales1 inventories there were statistically significant positive changes in more than half of the variables either in ANOVA or ANCOVA or in both in the Psycho-education group. Two variables (Trait and Total Anxiety) recorded significant change in Meditation group, which is another major finding of the study.