Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-1-2020
Abstract
Background and Purpose Epilepsy is often associated with substantial stigma. This study evaluated clinical correlates of stigma in a sample of people living with epilepsy (PLWE) con-sidered high risk due to frequent seizures or other negative health events. Methods Data were derived from an epilepsy self-management clinical trial. Standardized measures assessed socio-demographics, epilepsy stigma, epilepsy severity, self-efficacy, self-management competency, health literacy, depressive symptoms severity, functional status, social support and quality of life. Results There were 120 individuals, mean age of 41.73 (SD=17.08), 81 men (66.9%), and 79 (65.3%) African-American. Individual factors correlated with worse stigma w ere indicative of more severe or poorly controlled seizures (frequent seizures, worse seizure severity scores, more antiepileptic drugs), mental health comorbidity (worse depression severity, other comorbidi-ties) and factors related to individual functioning and perceived competency in managing their health (health literacy, health functioning, self-efficacy, quality of life). Multivariable lin-ear regression found that worse quality of life, and having a mental condition were associated with more stigma (β=6.4 and 6.8, respectively), while higher self-efficacy, health literacy and social support were associated with less stigma (β=-0.06,-2.1, and-0.3, respectively). These five variables explained 50% of stigma variation. Conclusions Stigma burden can be substantial among PLWE and may vary depending on contextual factors such as mental health comorbidity. Care approaches that screen for psychiatric comorbidities, address low health literacy, institute promising self-management programs, and employ effective health communication strategies about epilepsy misconceptions, may reduce epilepsy related burden.
Keywords
care approaches, stigma, epilepsy
Language
English
Publication Title
Journal of Clinical Neurology Korea
Grant
UL1TR000439
Rights
© 2020 Korean Neurological Association. This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Blixen C, Ogede D, Briggs F, Aebi ME, Burant C, Wilson B, Ponce Terashima J, Sajatovic M. Correlates of Stigma in People with Epilepsy. J Clin Neurol. 2020 Jul;16(3):423-432. https://doi.org/10.3988/jcn.2020.16.3.423
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Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons, Psychiatry Commons, Psychiatry and Psychology Commons
Manuscript Version
Final Publisher Version