Evaluating the usability and clinical outcomes of a mobile health application for epilepsy management in children: a quasi-experimental controlled study.

BACKGROUND

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder with substantial clinical and psychosocial effects in children. Mobile health (mHealth) may support epilepsy management through seizure monitoring, education, and caregiver support. This study evaluated a Persian-language smartphone application for children with epilepsy and their caregivers.

METHODS

This quasi-experimental controlled study included 100 children aged 1-18 years at a pediatric neurology clinic in Mashhad, Iran, in 2023. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling and non-randomly allocated by medical-record number parity to the intervention (n = 50) or control (n = 50) group. The intervention group received My Epilepsy App plus standard care for three months, whereas the control group received standard care alone. Seizure frequency and seizure duration were assessed before and after the intervention, and parent-reported usability was evaluated using the System Usability Scale (SUS). Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for within-group and between-group comparisons, respectively.

RESULTS

Ninety participants completed the study (40 intervention, 50 control). In the intervention group, seizure frequency decreased from 49.08 ± 173.08 to 25.40 ± 93.46, and mean seizure duration decreased from 3.22 ± 6.09 to 0.18 ± 0.79 min (both p < 0.001). No significant within-group changes were observed with standard care alone. Between-group differences in changes were significant for both outcomes (both p < 0.001). The mean SUS score was 88.12 ± 12.30, indicating excellent parent-reported usability.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of My Epilepsy App in addition to standard care was associated with reductions in seizure frequency and seizure duration and showed excellent parent-reported usability. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously because the non-randomized design does not allow causal conclusions.