Factors affecting the school life of children eith epilepsy

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder with many negative sequelae related to the school attendance of aff ected children. School environment plays a fundamental role in the stigmatization accompanyi ng this dise ase. Individual risk factors related to children with epilepsy themselves, their parents, teachers and clas smates have not been suffi ciently studied yet; the complex structure of the school life of children with epilepsy determined by the mutual coupli ng of the particular variables thus remains unclear. The fi rst objective of this review article is to provide an overview of the most important fi ndings related to this topic. The second objective is to introduce a complex study in which outcome will be a detailed structural model taki ng into consideration the most important variables related to the life of children with epilepsy in a school and quantify ing the links between them. Such a complex model should serve as a theoretical background for plan n ing tailored interventions to improve the quality of life of these children by means of reduc ing the stigma related not only to the dise ase itself but also to report the parents’, teachers’ and class mates’ knowledge. Recom mendations for further research as well as clinical practice in this field are given at the end of the study.