TY - JOUR
AU - J. L. Wagner
AU - R. Hirschberger
AU - J. DesMarteau
AU - C. Wolfe-Christensen
AU - G. Gaston
AU - S. Joshi
AU - A. D. Patel
AU - M. Sweeney
AU - A. Jridi
AU - Z. Ou
AU - N. Singhal
AU - J. Coryell
A1 - 
AB - Current guidelines, quality indicators, and recommendations broadly recognize the importance of behavioral health care integrated into routine epilepsy visits; however, no specific guidance currently exists for how to implement this care. To address this gap, the Value-based special interest group (SIG) of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) developed and disseminated a survey to inquire about availability and access to behavioral health care and roles of behavioral health care providers (e.g., neuropsychologists, psychologists, and social workers) within epilepsy centers across the US. This 52-item survey was emailed to directors of the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) level 3 and 4 pediatric centers (n = 130). The response rate was 38 % (N = 50 centers). The 14 questions pertaining to behavioral health care and several additional items regarding epilepsy center size (i.e., number of neurologists) and comprehensive care resource availability are presented here. Survey results identified that most sites (80 %) have access to neuropsychologist(s), who uniformly perform presurgical evaluations. In contrast, only a quarter of centers have psychologists dedicated to epilepsy patients, with 40 % of them indicating a greater than 3-month wait to see a psychologist. Approximately half of centers have social workers dedicated to epilepsy patients. Common practice for all three of these behavioral health professionals is discussed. Findings underscore the need for greater access to psychologists and more defined roles for behavioral health providers within specific settings to increase the availability of and decrease wait times for behavioral health care.
AD - Medical University of South Carolina, 99 Jonathan Lucas Street MSC 160, Charleston, SC 29425, United States. Electronic address: wagnerjl@musc.edu.; Boston Children's Health Physicians of New York and Connecticut, 40 Saw Mill River Road Suite FB-1, Hawthorne, NY 10532, United States; New York Medical College, 40 Sunshine Cottage Rd, Valhalla, NY 10595, United States. Electronic address: Rachel_Hirschberger@bchphysicians.org.; University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642, United States. Electronic address: julie_desmarteau@urmc.rochester.edu.; Cook Children's Meidcal Center - Forth Worth, 801 7th Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76104, United States. Electronic address: Cortney.Wolfe-Christensen@cookchildrens.org.; Medical University of South Carolina, 171 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC 29425, United States. Electronic address: gastong@musc.edu.; Children's Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027, United States. Electronic address: sjoshi@chla.usc.edu.; Nationwide Children's Hospital, 700 Children's Dr, Columbus, OH 43205, United States. Electronic address: Anup.Patel@nationwidechildrens.org.; The University of Utah, 201 Presidents' Cir, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States. Electronic address: Matthew.Sweney@hsc.utah.edu.; The University of Utah, 201 Presidents' Cir, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States. Electronic address: zhining.ou@hsc.utah.edu.; The University of Utah, 201 Presidents' Cir, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States. Electronic address: Amani.Jridi@hsc.utah.edu.; University of California San Francisco, Benioff Children's Hospitals, 1825 Fourth St., Fifth Floor, 5A, San Francisco, CA 94158, United States. Electronic address: nilika.singhal@ucsf.edu.; Oregon Health & Science University, 700 S.W. Campus Drive, Portland, OR 97239, United States. Electronic address: coryellj@ohsu.edu.
AN - 40749456
BT - Epilepsy Behav
C5 - Healthcare Disparities; Education & Workforce
DA - Oct
DO - 10.1016/j.yebeh.2025.110632
DP - NLM
ET - 20250731
JF - Epilepsy Behav
LA - eng
N2 - Current guidelines, quality indicators, and recommendations broadly recognize the importance of behavioral health care integrated into routine epilepsy visits; however, no specific guidance currently exists for how to implement this care. To address this gap, the Value-based special interest group (SIG) of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) developed and disseminated a survey to inquire about availability and access to behavioral health care and roles of behavioral health care providers (e.g., neuropsychologists, psychologists, and social workers) within epilepsy centers across the US. This 52-item survey was emailed to directors of the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) level 3 and 4 pediatric centers (n = 130). The response rate was 38 % (N = 50 centers). The 14 questions pertaining to behavioral health care and several additional items regarding epilepsy center size (i.e., number of neurologists) and comprehensive care resource availability are presented here. Survey results identified that most sites (80 %) have access to neuropsychologist(s), who uniformly perform presurgical evaluations. In contrast, only a quarter of centers have psychologists dedicated to epilepsy patients, with 40 % of them indicating a greater than 3-month wait to see a psychologist. Approximately half of centers have social workers dedicated to epilepsy patients. Common practice for all three of these behavioral health professionals is discussed. Findings underscore the need for greater access to psychologists and more defined roles for behavioral health providers within specific settings to increase the availability of and decrease wait times for behavioral health care.
PY - 2025
SN - 1525-5050
SP - 110632
ST - Behavioral health resources among US pediatric epilepsy centers
T1 - Behavioral health resources among US pediatric epilepsy centers
T2 - Epilepsy Behav
TI - Behavioral health resources among US pediatric epilepsy centers
U1 - Healthcare Disparities; Education & Workforce
U3 - 10.1016/j.yebeh.2025.110632
VL - 171
VO - 1525-5050
Y1 - 2025
ER -