Psychosocial and emotional consequences in siblings of children with epilepsy

AbstractBackground:Chronic illness such as epilepsy in children tends to affect the entire family. Siblings of these children, who are usually in the same age group cohort, may have various psychological consequences. Data are sparse on the psychological state of siblings who share the same family environment as the child suffering from epilepsy.Aim:To explore the emotional impact and psychosocial domains of siblings of children suffering from epilepsy.Materials and Methods:This was a qualitative study. The siblings of the children with epilepsy were interviewed with the help of a semistructured questionnaire exploring the domains of their perceived severity of the sibling’s epilepsy, their psychological reactions, their perception of parental behavior, family environment, and social life. Their narratives were transcribed into themes. The psychological reactions of the children were analyzed for correlation with sociodemographic factors, epilepsy characteristics, and the themes generated from other domains.Results:Overall, 80.48% children reported a feeling of anxiety, 60.97% reported parental negligence, 63.41% perceived high expectations from them by parents, and 31.7% perceived a disturbed family environment. The psychological reaction of anxiety correlated significantly with the perceived severity of illness (P = 0.005), whereas loneliness correlated with perceived harsh and punitive parenting (P = 0.003), a disturbed family environment (P = 0.024), and lack of recreation (P = 0.047).Conclusion:Children with siblings suffering from epilepsy have various psychological effects that are influenced by their perception of parental behavior and family environment.