Adapting the STRW Intervention for Adolescents and Young Adults With Epilepsy (ARGOS)

Epilepsy is a common childhood neurological condition and disproportionately affects adolescents and young adults (AYAs) compared to younger children. An estimated 1.1 million AYAs with epilepsy will become adults and with this transition to adulthood, youth with epilepsy often have increased challenges, including social stigma, reduced health-related quality of life, and perceived lack of independence. Some of these challenges may be related to deficits in executive functioning (EF), and as many as 30-50% of AYAs with epilepsy demonstrate EF deficits. EF has also been shown to impact adaptive functioning. Daily living skills (DLS), a component of adaptive functioning, are essential for managing independent living into adulthood. Age-appropriate DLS are linked to better adult outcomes in youth, including finding and keeping a job, attending college, and living independently. However, research has shown that even with relatively normal cognitive abilities, youth with epilepsy have demonstrated poorer adaptive skills compared to same-age peers, and interventions targeting the acquisition of DLS may be an important mechanism for closing this gap. Surviving and Thriving in the Real World (STRW) is a 15-week evidence-based DLS intervention developed originally for adolescents with autism without an intellectual disability (ID; IQ>70) that has shown promising results for improving DLS. Given the overlap of deficits in adaptive and executive functioning, STRW may be a useful intervention for adolescents with epilepsy to improve DLS in a structured and supported program prior to their transition to adulthood. In the current study, the investigators will deliver STRW for adolescents with epilepsy and test the effectiveness of the virtual intervention with families recruited from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). Given the emphasis on increasing DLS for adolescents with challenges in adaptive functioning, adolescents will be screened based on a parent measure of adaptive functioning skills called the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3) prior to intervention enrollment. The aim is to assess the satisfaction and acceptability of the STRW intervention for caregivers and adolescents completing the intervention and to determine the impact on adaptive functioning from pre- to post-treatment. The intervention will enroll high schoolers (i.e., 9th-12th graders) to examine the impact of the intervention on youth prior to the transition to adulthood. The investigators expect that adolescents and caregivers will rate STRW as satisfactory and acceptable and youth who complete the STRW intervention will demonstrate improvements on the caregiver-reported primary DLS assessment (ABAS-3) from pre-to post-treatment. Adolescent-reported DLS will also be explored.

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosed with epilepsy at least 1 year ago,
• enrolled in 9th-12th grade (i.e., 14-18 years old at time of enrollment)
• deficits in adaptive functioning per caregiver report (i.e., standard score below 90 on either the ABAS-3 Practical Domain or General Adaptive Composite [GAC]),
• not planning to wean off anti-seizure medication (ASM) within the intervention timeframe,
• and family's primary language is English.

Exclusion criteria

• Parent- or clinician-reported history in the adolescent/young adult of:

• history of developmental delay (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, pervasive development disorder, history of services for developmental delay or intellectual impairment in the past 5 years, known IQ<70),
• severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorder within the past 12 months),
• currently on the ketogenic diet,
• and history of epilepsy surgery in the past year.
• Clinician-reported diagnosis in the adolescent/young adult of:

• one or more episodes of status epilepticus within the 24 weeks prior to enrollment
• treatable causes of seizures (for example, identified etiologies including metabolic, neoplastic or active infectious origin),
• a confirmed or suspected epileptic encephalopathy (e.g., electrical status epilepticus in sleep, Landau Kleffner syndrome, West syndrome),
• a confirmed or suspected progressive and degenerative disorder (e.g., mitochondrial disorders, metabolic disorders, autoimmune disorders),
• non-epileptic events/seizures.