The impact of a new pediatric epilepsy diagnosis on parents: parenting stress and activity patterns.

The purpose of this study was to compare parenting stress and activity patterns in parents of children with new-onset epilepsy (NOE, n=30) and parents of children without epilepsy (controls, n=29). Participants completed parenting stress measures and Daily Phone Diaries, a cued-recall procedure to track parents through their activities over a 24-h period. No significant differences were found in parenting stress, with the exception of a higher proportion of parents of children with NOE experiencing life stress compared with parents of controls (P<0.05). Results indicated parents of children with NOE spent more time in medical care (F=4.4, P<0.05) and less time in recreation outside of the home (F=5.6, P<0.05) compared with parents of controls. These findings have important implications for family adaptation to a new epilepsy diagnosis.