WeChat-based remote follow-up management reduces the burden of home care and anxiety on parents of children with refractory epilepsy: A randomized controlled study

Objective: The present research was designed to study the effect of WeChat-based remote follow-up management on the burden of home care and anxiety on parents of children with refractory epilepsy. Methods: 161 refractory epileptic children were included in this study. They were divided into control group and WeChat group according to their management protocols after discharge, namely, control group with traditional follow-up (n = 81) and WeChat group with remote follow-up based on WeChat (n = 81). We evaluated home care burden by family caregiver task Inventory (FCTI) scale and zarit burden interview (ZBI) scale, and evaluated negative emotion by self-rating anxiety Scale (SAS) scale and self-Rating depression scale (SDS) scale. Results: There was no significant difference in the demographic characteristics of epileptic children and their parents and the scores of FCTI, ZBI, SAS and SDS before treatment between the 2 groups (all P > .05), and the score of FCTI (20.864.26), ZBI (39.63 +/- 4.46), SAS (44.49 +/- 4.15) and SDS (50.02 +/- 4.13) in WeChat group were all significantly lower than the score of FCTI (25.25 +/- 3.71), ZBI (45.47 +/- 4.61), SAS (52.75 +/- 4.93) and SDS (54.51 +/- 6.59) in control group (all P < .05). Conclusion: WeChat-based remote follow-up management reduces the burden of home care and anxiety on parents of children with refractory epilepsy.