Impact of health education on drug adherence and self-care in people with epilepsy with low education

- Effect of education on the drug adherence and self care in PWE with low education
- 90 PWE were randomized to health education group and 90 to the control group
- Drug adherence was assessed using MMAS at baseline and after six months
- Selfcare was assessed using ESES at baseline and after six months after enrollment
- Higher MMAS score and no significant change in ESES was found in the health education group compared to baseline

PurposeThis study was conducted to observe the effect of a structured educational program on drug adherence and self-care management in people with epilepsy in a developing country.MethodsA total of 180 consecutive people with epilepsy were enrolled from the epilepsy clinic of a tertiary care hospital in North India. Out of these, 90 were randomized to the epilepsy health education group and received the educational program and 90 were in the control group and received the standard of care but did not receive any structured educational program. The modified Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) and Epilepsy Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES) were administered to assess drug adherence and self-care, respectively, on the day of enrollment. The patients enrolled in the epilepsy health education group received 4 sessions of the structured educational program. The MMAS and ESES questionnaires were again administered to both groups after 6 months.Statistical methodsContinuous and categorical variables were compared between control and epilepsy health education groups using a chi-square test, with p value less than 0.05 considered significant. A comparison between pretest and posttest MMAS scores and ESES scores was done using a paired t-test.ResultsIn the epilepsy health education group, the pretest mean MMAS score was 6.58 whereas the posttest mean MMAS score was 7.53; the difference was significant (p = 0.001). The mean MMAS scores for the control group's pretest and posttest were 6.46 and 6.58, respectively, which were not significantly different (p = 0.224). On comparing the ESES scores at the beginning of the study and after 6 months, there was no significant change in both groups.ConclusionsThe present study proves the efficacy of a structured educational program in improving drug adherence in a cohort of people with epilepsy with low educational background.