Self-management for People with Epilepsy

SMART is a program for adult individuals with sub-optimally controlled epilepsy. It involves educational and behavioral interventions intended to enhance epilepsy self-management. The group sessions are conducted remotely over the teleconferencing application, Zoom. These sessions are held over an 8 week time period and are co-lead by a trained nurse educator and a trained peer educator. The peer educator is someone with epilepsy and a history of NHEs. Educators use a written curriculum delivered online, and the interactive sessions last 60-90 minutes. Groups are limited to about 6 -12 adult participants. After the group sessions are done, individuals have 3 telephone maintenance sessions with the nurse educator once a month for the first 3 months after the group sessions end spaced approximately 4 weeks apart. SMART is intended for adults with epilepsy, especially those who belong to disadvantaged sub groups such as rural populations, veterans with epilepsy and those who are underinsured. People with epilepsy who belong to disadvantaged sub-groups are more likely to have poor outcomes and often end up using expensive crisis-oriented care, and thus potentially might benefit the most from self-management programs if they can be actively engaged.