A study conducted at Jefferson Headache Center in Philadelphia, Pa. set out to see if homebound education allowed high school students with chronic headaches to progress academically. The researchers also wanted to see if there were social implications for the young people interviewed. Some high school students with chronic headaches are put on homebound education, due to their inability to concentrate in school.
Identifying homebound students who were in high school prior to August, 2006, seventeen patients participated in a 15 minute structured telephone interview, answering a series of closed-and open-ended questions. 71% felt that homebound allowed them to progress academically better than if they had been required to go to school. When discussing the homebound experience in general, 35% believed that being on homebound had a positive effect on both their education and headache. 24% saw a benefit only for their education, and 18% felt a benefit only for their headaches.
When talking about their activity levels, now, as opposed to their time on homebound, three quarters of the patients feel their activity levels are currently much higher. Interestingly, 65% of the patients feel their headaches are much better in the present, versus their homebound days. When it came to talking about their social life, 65% described feeling very isolated while on homebound… currently only 12% feel very isolated.
In looking at the data, the researchers believe that homebound education allowed high school students with chronic headache to progress academically. Most are currently in school full-time. On the other hand, most students felt very isolated and had fewer friends than their peers during homebound. 35% of them lost almost all connections with their peers, and currently most feel they have less friends than their peers….. Headache The Journal of Head and Face Pain May 2012