Details

Description

According to the World Health Organization, more than 50 million people worldwide are living with epilepsy. Self-management practices in epilepsy may help reduce negative health events like emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and breakthrough seizures.  

People with epilepsy experience negative health events such as frequent seizures and emergency department visits. People with epilepsy in rural areas have additional challenges such as social isolation and limited access to care. This project works to replicate an evidence-based intervention called SMART (Self-Management for People with Epilepsy and a History of Negative Health Events) in rural and underserved communities and to assess participants’ perceptions of the intervention. SMART has been demonstrated to reduce epilepsy-related complications and improve quality of life and physical and mental health functioning.

This project will: (1) Replicate this evidence-based intervention in an alternative setting (rural and under-served communities), (2) Incorporate best practices and recommended strategies for enhancing study recruitment and retention, and (3) Assess program adopter’s perceptions of the intervention to inform implementation and dissemination. SMART has been shown to reduce epilepsy-related complications and improve quality of life and physical and mental health functioning. It is an online, 12-week behavioral program delivered by peer educators (patients with epilepsy) and nurse educators. It was developed by researchers at Case Western Reserve University. Examining the effectiveness and acceptability of SMART in rural and underserved communities will help guide its implementation and dissemination.

Resources, Media, & Publications 

Publications:

• Duke SM, González Otárula KA, Canales T, Lu E, Stout A, Ghearing GR, Sajatovic M. A systematic literature review of health disparities among rural people with epilepsy (RPWE) in the United States and Canada. Epilepsy Behav. 2021 Sep;122:108181. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108181. Epub 2021 Jul 9. PMID: 34252832; PMCID: PMC8429139.

• Ghearing GR, Briggs F, Cassidy K, Privitera M, Blixen C, Sajatovic M. A randomized controlled trial of self-management for people with epilepsy and a history of negative health events (SMART) targeting rural and underserved people with epilepsy: a methodologic report. Trials. 2021 Nov 20;22(1):821. doi: 10.1186/s13063-021-05762-z. PMID: 34801061; PMCID: PMC8605559.