Investigation of psychomotor skills of 24-36 months old children using antiepileptic drugs

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of duration of medication use, gender and education status on the fine and gross motor skill development of children with epilepsy between the ages of 24-36 months who have antiepileptic drugs that they have to use for this reason. Descriptive survey method, one of the quantitative method designs, was used in the study. The population of the study consists of children between the ages of 24 and 36 months with a diagnosis of epilepsy who applied to Bursa Uludag University Health Practice and Research Center in 2022. The sample of the study consisted of 173 children between the ages of 24 and 36 months with a diagnosis of epilepsy who applied to Bursa Uludağ University Health Practice and Research Center in 2022. Purposive sampling method, one of the non-random sampling methods, was used in the selection of the sample group. Within the scope of the study, the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher and including the variables determined for the children and the "Denver II Developmental Screening Test (DGTT II)" were used to evaluate the development of children with epilepsy between 24-36 months. In the data collection process, the necessary permissions were obtained first from the Ethics Committee of Sakarya University and then from the directorate of Bursa Uludağ University Health Application and Research Center. The "Denver II Developmental Screening Test" was administered by the researcher on a voluntary basis to epilepsy patients who applied to the hospital in 2022-2023. The Personal Information Form was also filled out by the researcher with the information obtained from the parents, by informing the parents and obtaining the necessary permission. Based on the normality assumption, Independent Samples t Test and Correlation Analysis, which are parametric tests, were deemed appropriate within the scope of the study. In this case, Independent Samples T Test was used to determine whether the study group differed according to the gender and education status of the children, while Correlation Analysis was used to determine whether the scores obtained from the Denver II Developmental Screening Test differed according to medication use. According to the results of the study, it was found that the difference in fine and gross motor scores of 24-36 month-old children with epilepsy was not statistically significant according to the gender variable. In addition, it was found that the difference in the fine and gross motor scores of children aged 24-36 months with epilepsy was statistically significant according to the variable of whether they received education or not. It was found that there was a negative relationship between the duration of medication use and the fine and gross motor scores of the children participating in the study. It was found that there was a decrease in fine and gross motor skills as the duration of drug use increased. Considering the results, it is thought that fine and gross motor skills, which decrease with the duration of medication use, can be tolerated with the status and duration of education. And it is envisaged that this study will shed light on the trainings and studies to be planned in the future. Keywords: Development, Psychomotor development, Epilepsy, Antiepileptic drug