The effect of educational program on drugs self-management in patient with epilepsy- A randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Background and aims: Having no adherence to medication regimen in patients suffering from Epilepsy is lead to an increased mortality rate in these patients. The present study evaluated the effect of educational program on drugs self-management in patient with epilepsy. Methods: This study was a randomized clinical trial with control group. The samples (n=60) were selected from the neurology clinic of Valiasr hospital in Zanjan. The patients were randomly assigned into the intervention (n=30) and the control (n=30) groups. The intervention group received four educational sessions with the two stages of continuous care model that including epilepsy and self-management plan. All patients completed the epilepsy self-management scale pre intervention and one month post intervention. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in demographic characteristics and drugs self-management scores between two groups. After intervention there were a Significant statistical difference between the epilepsy drug self-management scores in intervention and control groups (p<0.001) and the intervention group showed an increase in their drug self-management. Conclusion: Nurses can increase the drug self-management of epileptic patients by using the simple and inexpensive technique of group education and thus avoid from many problems of these patients and help to improve their health.

Keywords

• education
• drug self-management
• medication adherence
• epilepsy