Exploring the role of knowledge of condition and psycho-social profiles of young people with epilepsy during transition

- Young people's knowledge of condition increased during transition.
- Anxiety was reduced during the transition process compared to pre and post transition.
- Psycho-social factors such as depression and resilience are important to consider during transition.
- Males and females were found to have different needs during transition.

Transitioning from paediatric to adult care can be a particularly challenging time for young people with epilepsy and research has shown that there are a range of factors which may influence a young person's ability to successfully cope with this difficult time. The following study aimed to explore the psychosocial characteristics of this transitioning population, as well as investigate how knowledgeable the young person and their parent/carer are of their own condition throughout transition. Young people with epilepsy were recruited from two specialist epilepsy clinics in the North West and allocated to one of three groups; Group 1 pre-transition, Group 2 transitioning, and Group 3 post-transition.Results found that the young person's knowledge increased significantly throughout transition, whilst parent/carer's knowledge decreased. In addition, anxiety was found to be significantly lower in Group 2 (transitioning group) compared to Group 1 (pre-transition) and Group 3 (post-transition) and a number of significant gender differences were also identified across the groups. The study highlights the importance of considering all relevant psychosocial factors, such as anxiety, gender and the degree of knowledge the individual holds of their own condition during the transition process in order to develop psycho-educational programmes and transition pathways.