Development and validation of the University of Washington caregiver stress and benefit scales for caregivers of children with or without serious health conditions.

Purpose: To develop item response theory (IRT)-based item banks and short forms to measure stress and benefit related to caregiving for children, including children with epilepsy or other serious health conditions.

Methods: Items developed with feedback from neurologists and caregivers of children with epilepsy were tested in cognitive interviews and administered to caregivers of children with severe epilepsy (N = 128), down syndrome (N = 143) and muscular dystrophy (N = 129), as well as a community sample of US caregivers (N = 322). IRT was used to analyze the data.

Life impact of caregiving for severe childhood epilepsy: Results of expert panels and caregiver focus groups.

Severe epilepsy in children and young adults can significantly affect the lives of their caregivers. However, the lack of a reliable and valid measure of caregiver impact has limited our understanding of the scope and correlates of this impact, as well as our ability to measure the effects of treatments that could lessen it. The purpose of this study was to facilitate focus groups and interviews with an international group of clinician experts and caregivers to identify the most important domains that should be assessed in a measure of caregiver impact.

Effects of gabapentin and carbamazepine on the EEG and cognition in healthy volunteers.

Purpose: Antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy can be associated with neurotoxic side effects including cognitive dysfunction. Objective methods for detection of neurotoxicity in individual patients would be useful. We studied the effects of gabapentin (GBP) and carbamazepine (CBZ) on neurophysiologic and cognitive/behavioral measures in healthy volunteers.