An aim in recent years has been to develop self-management programs for patients with epilepsy. Pramuka and coworkers, for example, described a trial of self-management intervention for adults with the disorder. The study looked at a 6-week psychosocial intervention designed to improve self-efficacy and quality of life for 61 adults with diagnosed epilepsy. Measures used included the Quality of Life in Epilepsy-89 Inventory, the Washington Psychosocial Seizure Inventory, a locus of control scale, and the Epilepsy Self-Efficacy Scale-2000. Group differences were analyzed with statistical procedures. There was a significant improvement in the Quality of Life in Epilepsy-89 Role Limitations-Emotional score in the treatment group at follow-up, but no significant differences in overall quality of life. Strong and significant correlations were observed between outcome measures.

VALUE OF STUDY TO READER: The authors said that although the intervention had little effect on improving overall quality of life, promising trends were observed in comparisons linking self-efficacy and other psychosocial factors with quality of life. The findings suggest that the intervention should be redone with a larger population of patients. We concur with this thought. Any future study should also include more measures on epilepsy and consequences.

M Pramuka et al. A psychosocial self-management program for epilepsy: A randomized pilot study in adults. Epilepsy & Behavior, September 27, 2007.