Epilepsy Self-Management in Older Adults: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

描述（由申请人提供）：在美国，老年人新发癫痫发作或癫痫的发病率最高。由于癫痫是一种无法治愈的慢性疾病，老年人需要独立管理他们的癫痫。自我管理是指慢性病患者为了管理自己的疾病、相关治疗以及对日常生活的整体影响而采取的一系列行为--行动和任务。癫痫的自我管理已被证明是复杂的，也与重要的社会和临床结果有关，如医疗资源利用，生活质量和死亡率。虽然研究人员调查了年轻和中年癫痫患者的癫痫自我管理经验，但没有研究检查老年癫痫患者的自我管理经验。了解癫痫对老年人生活的影响以及他们在管理这种疾病时所面临的挑战，对于制定有效的干预措施以改善癫痫自我管理，从而改善这一人群的临床结局是必要的。因此，有必要调查老年人的癫痫自我管理经验。本研究的具体目的是从老年人（60岁或以上诊断的人）的角度描述癫痫自我管理经验，并在适用时，他们的重要他人。将使用描述性定性设计，通过内容分析分析叙述性数据。这项研究的结果将最终为未来干预措施的发展提供信息，以增强或促进老年癫痫患者的癫痫自我管理行为和经验。博士课程，会议，研讨会，跨学科研究团队的参与，健康行为研讨会的参与，以及申请人的赞助商每两周一次的密切监测，在结构化计划中提出，以实现研究目标。与国家护理研究所的使命一致，拟议的培训计划旨在加强申请人必要的基本知识和研究技能的发展，以满足成为一个既定的研究人员的职业目标，在研究密集型的学术环境中，专注于调查老年癫痫患者及其自我管理。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the United States, older adults have the highest incidence of new-onset seizures, or epilepsy. Because epilepsy is a chronic disease for which there is no cure, older adults are required to independently manage their epilepsy. Self-management refers to a set of behaviors-actions and tasks-carried out by individuals with chronic diseases in order to manage their diseases, associated treatments, and overall impact on daily life. The self-management of epilepsy has been shown to be complex and also related to important societal and clinical outcomes such as healthcare resource utilization, quality of life, and mortality. While researchers have investigated the epilepsy self-management experiences of young and middle-aged adults with epilepsy, no studies examining the self-management experiences of older adults with epilepsy have been executed. Understanding the impact of epilepsy on the lives of older adults and the challenges they face in managing this disease is necessary to develop effective interventions to improve epilepsy self-management, and thus clinical outcomes, for this population. Thus, there is a need to investigate the epilepsy self-management experiences of older adults. The specific aims of this study are to describe epilepsy self-management experiences from the perspective of older adults (those diagnosed at age 60 years or older) and, when applicable, their significant others. A descriptive qualitative design will be used, with narrative data being analyzed via content analysis. Findings generated from this study will ultimately inform the development of future interventions to enhance or facilitate the epilepsy self-management behaviors and experiences of older adults with epilepsy. PhD coursework, conferences, workshops, participation in interdisciplinary research teams, participation in health behavior seminars, and close monitoring by the applicant's sponsors on a bi-weekly basis is proposed in the structured plan to achieve the study aim. Consistent with the mission of the National Institute of Nursing Research, the proposed training plan is designed to enhance the development of essential knowledge and research skills necessary for the applicant to meet the career goal of becoming an established researcher, in a research-intensive academic setting, focused on investigating older adults with epilepsy and their self- management.