Open AccessParental Attitudes Toward Deep Brain Stimulation in Adolescents with Treatment-Resistant Conditions
Author(s) -
Eric A. Storch,
Sandra L. Cepeda,
Eric B. Lee,
Sarah L.V. Goodman,
Anthony D. Robinson,
Alessandro S. De Nadai,
Sophie C. Schneider,
Sameer A. Sheth,
Laura Torgerson,
Gabriel LázaroMuñoz
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.935
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1557-8992
pISSN - 1044-5463
DOI - 10.1089/cap.2019.0134
Subject(s) - deep brain stimulation , autism spectrum disorder , psychiatry , psychology , tourette syndrome , epilepsy , clinical psychology , pediatrics , autism , medicine , disease , pathology , parkinson's disease
Objective: To examine parent's perceptions of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and whether DBS is perceived to be a viable and safe treatment for their adolescent child presenting with a severe, treatment-resistant neurological or psychiatric condition. Method: Two hundred and seventy-nine parents completed an online survey using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants were presented with five vignette scenarios involving adolescents with severe, treatment-resistant neurological or psychiatric conditions: Rett syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette syndrome. Parents were then asked to evaluate each scenario and rate overall acceptability of using DBS to improve their child's core symptoms. Data were collected over a period of 2 weeks in the month of October 2018. Results: We found that parents reported favorable impressions of DBS regardless of the target condition, especially when greater improvement could be assured and when their child had the capacity to assist in the treatment decision-making. Parents indicated some reluctance to use DBS when possible safety concerns were present. Familiarity with DBS was directly associated with attitudes. Conclusions: The findings highlight an overall parental willingness to consider DBS as a treatment option for key symptoms of neurological and psychiatric conditions in adolescents.