Parental perception of the quality of life among children with epilepsy or diabetes with a new assessment questionnaire

The questionnaire discriminates well between children with epilepsy or diabetes, showing that the former is more affected than the latter, and also identifies one factor, the impact on the parents and the family.

Abstract

This paper describes the evaluation of a newly designed questionnaire to assess the quality of life among children with epilepsy or diabetes. Factor analysis identified one factor, the impact on the parents and the family, which was responsible for over a third of the variance in the two illness groups. Two other factors, impact on development and impact on health, were also found in the epilepsy group. The questionnaire discriminates well between children with epilepsy or diabetes, showing that the former is more affected than the latter. Children with more severe epilepsy are seen by parents to have a worse quality of life than children whose epilepsy is well controlled.