A study of subjective symptoms associated with seizure disorders in adolescents

• Main Author: Fletcher-Janzen, Elaine
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: W&M ScholarWorks 1993
• Subjects: Educational Psychology; Psychology; Quantitative Psychology
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539618335; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1545&context=etd

The purpose of this study was to develop a self-report questionnaire that would address subjective symptoms associated with seizures in adolescents. The study was a preliminary investigation as to the reliability and validity of the Seizure Disorder Questionnaire.;Two groups of subjects were studied. The seizure group consisted of 31 adolescents diagnosed with epilepsy and contacted through the Epilepsy Clinic at the Medical college of Virginia, the Comprehensive Epilepsy Clinic at the University of Virginia, Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents in New Kent, Virginia, and the Williamsburg-James City County public schools. The control group consisted of 125 adolescents who did not have seizure disorders and were contacted through the Williamsburg-James City County Schools. It was hypothesized that the seizure group would affirm higher frequencies of symptoms associated with seizures than the control group, and that a significant difference would exist between the groups.;It was concluded that the reliability of the Seizure Disorder Questionnaire was moderate to high. The preliminary estimate of validity was supported by a significant difference between groups on 24 of the original items in the Seizure Disorder Questionnaire. A factor analysis of the 24 items suggested three factors that may represent separate sets of seizure disorder symptoms in the areas of physiology, perception, and memory.