The impact of epilepsy on quality of life: a qualitative analysis

The assessment and understanding of epilepsy’s impact on an individual’s quality of life (QOL) is increasingly being recognized as an important component of clinical care. Because the impact of epilepsy can span a range of clinically important functional and psychosocial domains, QOL as a model for understanding epilepsy’s impact should be inclusive of the many life domains that are important to the individual. In this study a community-based sample of 46 adults with epilepsy were surveyed to identify the QOL domains that are important to persons with epilepsy, the factors that contribute to and detract from QOL, and the ways that epilepsy is perceived to impact QOL. A multidomain structure of quality of life emerged from the qualitative data analysis. Epilepsy was seen as having both a direct and an indirect impact on QOL, by directly affecting QOL domains and by affecting those factors that contribute to QOL.