Severity, uncertainty, social support and coping style of parents who have children with epilepsy: a structural equation model.

AIM

To examine four variables in the model of perceived uncertainty in illness in northwestern China; to explore the relationship between severity, social support, illness uncertainty, and active coping in parents of children with epilepsy.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study design.

REPORTING METHOD

The STROBE checklist was used to ensure the rigor in this study.

METHOD

This study recruits parents of children with epilepsy from a tertiary children's hospital using convenience sampling between January and November 2024. Eligible participants completed questionnaires via an online platform (https://www.wjx.cn/) by scanning the QR code. Structural equation modeling and mediated effects serve as the methods for data analysis.

RESULT

This study surveyed 492 parents, including 192 males (39.0%) and 300 females (61.0%). The corrected model achieved an acceptable model fit: (χ = 89.104 ( < 0.001); df = 59; χ/df = 1.510; RMSEA = 0.043; CFI = 0.960; TLI = 0.941; IFI = 0.969). Severity positively predicted illness uncertainty ( = 0.105,  < 0.05). Social support negatively predicted illness uncertainty ( = -0.111,  < 0.05) and positively predicted active coping ( = 0.583,  < 0.001). Illness uncertainty negatively predicted active coping ( = -0.075,  < 0.05). Social support had a direct positive effect on active coping ( = 0.550,  < 0.01), and social support had an indirect negative effect on active coping through uncertainty ( = -0.012,  < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Illness uncertainty partially mediated the relationship between social support and active coping. However, we did not confirm a relationship between illness severity and active coping in this study.