2.2 Questionnaires
These epilepsy specific questionnaires were used to evaluate safety of AEDs, adherence to AEDs, satisfaction with information about AEDs and QoL in pediatric patients with epilepsy, they were answered by the parent/caregiver twice at baseline and at follow-up, and it took from 15-20 minutes to answer these questionnaires:
1- Pediatric Epilepsy Side Effects Questionnaire (PESQ), which is a 19-item measure consisting of five subscales (cognitive, motor, behavioural, general neurological and weight) side effects, five-point Likert scale from one (Not Present) to five (High Severity) was used, finally, a score from 0-100 was calculated and a higher score indicates higher number and severity of side effects (17).
2- The 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8), it consists of eight questions with a score of zero or one, higher score means increased adherence (18), the validated Arabic version was used (19).
3- The Satisfaction with Information about Medicines Scale (SIMS), a 17-questions used to indicate whether the patients have received enough information about their prescribed medicines, it identifies patients’ satisfaction with information about the action and usage of medication, and the potential problems of medication, a score of one or zero is given to each question, higher score indicate higher degree of satisfaction (20).
4- Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (Peds QL) epilepsy module, it is used to assess quality of life in pediatric patients with epilepsy, and consists of five dimensions (Impact, Cognitive Functioning, Sleep/Rest, Executive Functioning, and Mood/Behavior). Five-point Likert scale from zero (Never) to four (Almost always) is used and a score out of 100 is given and higher score indicates lower problems. Use was authorized by Mapi Research Trust (21).