Fear of negative evaluation and the concealment of their disease by epilepsy patients

Abstract

Objective: The fear of being negatively evaluated and subjected to social stigma causes people with epilepsy to conceal their disease. This study aims to explore the fear of negative evaluation and disease concealment in epilepsy patients in northern Turkey.

Method: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2019 and March 2020 with 109 epilepsy patients who applied to a neurology outpatient clinic in northern Turkey. The study data were collected using a descriptive questionnaire, the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) and the Concealment of Epilepsy Scale (CES).

Results: The mean score of participants on the CES was 46.93 ± 9.55, while the mean score on the BFNE was 31.19 ± 4.86. Participants' tendency to conceal their disease increased with the age of the participant (p < 0.001). At the same time, it was found that individuals who had more than one seizure a week had a greater tendency to conceal their disease compared with the other participants (p < 0.01). No significant relationship was found between the descriptive characteristics of people with epilepsy and their fear of negative evaluation (p > 0.05). However, a negative significant relationship was found between participants' fear of negative evaluation and their tendency to conceal their disease (r = -0.32, p < 0.01).

Conclusion: In this study, it was found that people with epilepsy had high levels of fear of negative evaluation by society and a strong tendency to conceal their disease. As the patients' age and seizure frequency increased, their tendency to conceal their disease also increased. Surprisingly, as concealment of their disease increased, participants' fear of negative evaluation decreased.

Keywords: Concealment of disease; Epilepsy; Fear of negative evaluation.