Stres rodzicielski i zadowolenie z życia u opiekunów dzieci i młodzieży z epilepsją: badanie przekrojowe z grupą kontrolną

PURPOSE: Childhood epilepsy imposes psychological burden not only on the affected child but also on caregivers. This study aimed to compare parenting stress and life satisfaction between parents of children and adolescents with epilepsy and parents of children and adolescents without a chronic condition, and to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with these outcomes among parents of children and adolescents with epilepsy. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 58 parents of children and adolescents aged 9-19 years with epilepsy and 44 parents of hospital-based control children and adolescents without a chronic condition (N = 102). Questionnaires were completed by the responding parent, typically whichever parent accompanied the child or adolescent to the clinical visit. Parenting stress and life satisfaction were assessed using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), respectively. The SWLS captured the responding parent's own global life satisfaction. Group comparisons were performed using Welch's t test or the Mann-Whitney U test, as appropriate. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors independently associated with parenting stress and life satisfaction, with Holm-Bonferroni correction applied for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Parents in the epilepsy group reported higher PSI-SF total scores than controls (84.88 ± 24.04 vs. 72.73 ± 18.61, P = 0.005, Hedges' g = 0.55); among the subscales, the difference in Parental Distress remained significant after Holm-Bonferroni correction, whereas the differences in Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction and Difficult Child did not. Life satisfaction did not differ significantly between groups (22.77 ± 7.00 vs. 23.98 ± 7.49, P = 0.442), and the confidence interval did not exclude a meaningful difference. Group membership remained associated with parenting stress after adjustment for the measured demographic covariates (child/adolescent age and sex, paternal education, and economic status) (b = 12.13, P = 0.010). Within the epilepsy group, parents of children with a seizure reported within the preceding 6 months had higher PSI-SF scores than parents of children without such a seizure (102.1 ± 22.0 vs. 81.1 ± 23.0, P = 0.027); all clinical analyses were exploratory. CONCLUSION: In this hospital-based sample, parents of children and adolescents with epilepsy reported higher PSI-SF scores than parents of controls, whereas findings for life satisfaction and for seizure-related determinants were inconclusive or exploratory. Given the limited neurological phenotyping available in this sample, these findings primarily reflect elevated caregiver stress rather than identify specific clinical drivers of that stress. These findings support routine psychosocial screening of caregivers as part of comprehensive care for children and adolescents with epilepsy.