The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Worry and Quality of Life in Mothers of Children with epilepsy

Epilepsy - the most common chronic neurological disease of childhood - is unpleasant for family members, especially mothers, not to mention that they play key roles in the care and control of seizures . thereby suffering from high anxiety. Childhood onset epilepsy can have a very significant impact on family functioning with high rates of maternal anxiety and depression being reported , Such chronic diseases like epilepsy can also put the family at risk over a long period of time, as well as leading mothers to not paying enough attention to other aspects of life. Therefore, families having children with such disabilities are exposed to many stressors that can hinder family development. As well as impacting on the parents themselves, parental mental health symptoms can impact negatively on behavior in children with epilepsy underlining the need to identify and provide support for these problems.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness - based stress reduction on worry and quality of life in mothers of children with epilepsy. The design of this quasi -experimental study was pretest - posttest with a control group. The study population was all mothers of Children with Epilepsy in Isfahan. The sample of the study was 30 of these mothers who were purposefully selected from the Masih Epilepsy Society and randomly divided into 2 groups (experimental and control). The experimental group was trained in mindfulness - based stress reduction program (Based on theory Teasdale et al, 2007) for 8 sessions of 90 minutes and the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. Also, after the end of the study, treatment was performed for the people in the control group. The Pennsylvania State worry Questionnaire (1990) and the ware& Sherbourne Quality of Life Questionnaire (1992) were used to collect data.

The results were analyzed using analysis of covariance. The results showed that educational intervention reduced worry and increased quality of life in two main dimensions (physical health and mental health) in mothers with epileptic children (p < 0. 05) .

Mindfulness - based stress reduction program can reduce worry and increase the physical and mental health of mothers with epileptic children. Therefore, counselors and therapists can use mindfulness - based stress reduction therapy as intervention method to reduce worry and increase physical and mental health in mothers of children with epilepsy.