Living with epilepsy: coping strategies among Kadazandusun population in Sabah

Abstract

Living with epilepsy too requires patients to develop specific coping strategies in dealing with their condition. The main objective of this cross-sectional study is to determine the most and least frequently adopted coping mechanism and to investigate the differences in coping strategies between male and female patients among KadanDusun population from 7 government hospitals in Sabah. Upon written consents, patients completed the Brief COPE-27 instrument (domains: self-distraction, active coping, substance use, emotional support, instrumental support, behavior disengagement, venting, positive reframing, planning, humor, acceptance, religion, self-blame. Most of the patients were male (n=27; 58.7%) while female patients consisted of 41 .3% (n=19) of the sample respondents. Findings showed that the most frequently used coping strategies were Religion (mean score:3.50, SD:0.88), Instrumental Support (mean score:3.24, SD:0.66), Emotional Support(mean score:3.15, SD:0.72). On the other hand, Substance-Use(mean score:1.31, SD:0.67),Behavioural Disengagement(mean score:1.38, SD:0.67) and Self-Blame(mean score:1.57, SD:0.86) were the least-frequently employed mechanisms to cope with epilepsy problems. The findings also demonstrated that there were significant differences between male and female respondents in terms of using Behavioural Disengagement as their coping mechanisms. The results indicate that healthcare professionals managing epilepsy should focus on handling about seizure in their medical care plan. Additionally, it could be useful to suggest religious practices as an effective way to cope as well as encouraging families and friends to provide emotional support to patients.