The level of negative emotions, coping with stress and social support for parents of children suffering from epilepsy.

INTRODUCTION: Child epilepsy can be source of negative emotions and stress in pa- rents. Social support is an external personal resource coupled with the process of coping with difficult situations. AIM: The aim of the study evaluation the severity of negative emotions and ways of dealing with the stress of parents of children with epilepsy in relation to the received social support.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in one of the children's hospitals in Małopolska, on 213 parents (148 women and 65 men) aged 21 to 66 years. The study used: HADS-M (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale Modified HADS-M, BSSS (Berlin Social Suport Scale), Inventory for Measurement Coping Mini-COPE and the author's questionnaire. Statistical analysis used Pearson and Spearman's correlation and Mann-Whitney test and t-test. Calculations were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 Statistical significance was p ≤0.05.
RESULTS: The dominant emotion that accompanied the parents was anxiety. Parents have used more strategies based on active coping, and seeking emotional support or instrumental. It has been shown there is a correlation between the level of intensity of negative emotions and social support, and also correlation between social support and ways of coping with stress.
CONCLUSION: Parents expressed negative emotions but not of high severity which may be related to the choice of active coping strategies. Steps should be taken not only to assess the prevalence of negative emotions in a group of parents, but also to reduce the level of their intensity by exposing the importance of social support.