Efficacy of Psycho-educational Program on Burden of Caregivers of Children with Epilepsy: A clinical trial

Background: Long-term care of the children with epilepsy and lack of psycho-educational training will lead to caregiver burden. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a psycho-educational training program on caregiver burden in families with pediatric epileptic children. Methods: This is a clinical trial study with two groups of experimental and control with three stages of Before, Immediately later, One month after the intervention. The population of the study consisted of family caregivers of children with epilepsy referring to Imam Hossein and Kashani Hospitals in Isfahan, Iran. Seventy families of children (ages 6 - 18years) with epilepsy participated in this study in 2018. The samples were randomly assigned to experimental (35) and control (35) groups using sequential convenience sampling method. The experimental group received a psycho-educational training program in eight sessions (90-minute) in four groups (8 - 9 members), and training was held two sessions a week. The control group participated in three sessions and expressed their problems and experiences. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) that consisted of 22 items and a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods and SPSS18 were used for data analysis. Results: Before the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups of experimental and control in terms of caregiver burden (P = 0.917). However, there was a significant difference between the three time stages in the intervention group after the intervention (P < 0.05; f = 3.511). Meanwhile, the mean score of caregiver burden decreased during the intervention period than before the study (P < 0.05; f = 166.60), while the mean score of caregiver burden did not increase significantly in the control group over time (P = 0.036). Conclusions: The results showed that in a family with school-age epileptic children, appropriate programs and training methods are needed to decrease caregiver burden; so it is necessary to develop and use such programs by the treatment team members.