Stigma and quality of life in individuals with epilepsy

This study was conducted as a descriptive and relationship-seeking study to reveal the relationship between stigma and quality of life in epilepsy patients. The sample of the study consisted of 130 epileptic individuals diagnosed with epilepsy who agreed to participate in the study between January and September 2022. SPSS 25.0 program was used for data analysis. 56.2% of the participants had medium and 14.6% had high stigmatization scores. It was determined that stigmatization was associated with age, education level, employment and income level. Total score of EDS; Participants aged 51 and over, primary school graduates, never worked and receiving minimum wage was higher. It was determined that the total EDS score did not differ according to gender, marital status, people with whom they lived together, date of diagnosis, duration of treatment and date of last seizure. Participants without income who had a seizure in the past year had lower quality of life score. It was determined that the QOLIE-10 scores did not differ in terms of gender, age, marital status, employment, education level, people they live with, date of diagnosis, duration of treatment and type of epilepsy. It was determined that as the stigmatization score of the participants increased, their quality of life scores decreased (r=0.454 p<0.001).