Abstracts

Rationale: Youth with epilepsy are at heightened risk for a variety of psychological comorbidities (Dunn, Austin, & Perkins, 2009; Fastenau et al., 2004). The integration of psychology into routine epilepsy care has been shown to decrease problematic behaviors in children with epilepsy (Guilfoyle et al., 2014). Despite expert guidelines for improved interdisciplinary care, the integration of behavioral health into routine epilepsy care is limited (Fountain et al., 2011; Guilfoyle et al., 2014; The National Association of Epilepsy Centers, 2001). We address the psychosocial needs of youth with epilepsy through the integration of psychology into our outpatient epilepsy clinic. We aim to 1) describe the psychological functioning of youth in our pediatric epilepsy clinic, 2) summarize psychology services offered, and 3) examine epileptologist perception of effectiveness of integrated psychology services.Methods: Participants were 108 patients seen by psychology through a hospital-based pediatric epilepsy program. Data pertinent to demographic information, neurological diagnoses, psychological comorbidities, and psychology services provided were extracted via electronic medical record review and compiled in a single document. Perception of effectiveness of integrated psychology services was assessed via surveys completed by four epileptologists.Results: Neurological diagnoses were as follows: 30 % generalized epilepsy, 41 % focal epilepsy, 26 % unclassified epilepsy, and 1 % psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. The most common psychological concerns were developmental delay/intellectual disability (25 %), behavioral problems (21 %), depression (8 %), adjustment problems (8 %), and autism (8 %). All patients received psychoeducation, 59 % received a behavioral intervention, 7 % were referred for psychology treatment, and 7 % were referred for neuropsychological assessment. Perception of effectiveness surveys have been distributed to epileptologists; final data will be presented with the final poster.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the vulnerability of youth with epilepsy to psychological concerns. The integration of psychology services into outpatient epilepsy clinics is an optimal opportunity to provide education and brief intervention, as well as facilitate referrals. Epileptologist perception of effectiveness data will be important for better understanding the impact of psychology services on pertinent domains of practice in pediatric epilepsy.