LEARNED RESOURCEFULNESS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT FOLLOWING TEMPORAL LOBECTOMY IN EPILEPSY

This study investigated the relationship between learned resourcefulness and psychosocial functioning of 42 adults who had undergone a unilateral temporal lobectomy for epilepsy one or more years earlier. Patients high on the dimension of learned resourcefulness were expected to show better psychosocial adjustment than low resourceful individuals. The results showed that favourable psychosocial adjustment (assessed by the WPSI) correlated poorly with postoperative freedom from seizures. Learned resourcefulness predicted a significant amount of the variance in psychosocial adjustment scores, even when severity of illness was controlled. Other hypothesized contributory factors, such as health locus of control and family cohesion, did not significantly contribute to this prediction. A model of psychosocial adjustment in epilepsy, highlighting the influence of learned resourcefulness, is elaborated, and the need for theory-based epilepsy research is emphasized.