Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Parents and Guardians of Epileptic Children towards Epilepsy in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan.

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Epilepsy is a common neurological disease characterized by seizures and is one of the most prevalent diseases in Paediatric Neurology Departments. OBJECTIVES: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practices of parents and guardians of epileptic children towards epilepsy and to identify the gaps that could barriers in the management of epileptic children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Place and Duration of study: Paediatric Neurology Outpatient Department of Children Hospital and Institute of Child Health Faisalabad from January 2021 to June 2021. Study Design: Hospital-based Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study. Sampling Technique: Non- probability convenient sampling. Methodology: After informed verbal consent 192 cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected. Data was recorded by structured predesigned questionnaire and was analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. RESULTS: Among 192 respondents majority have fair knowledge n=155(80%), Favorable attitude n=105(54.7%) and use safe practices to counter epilepsy 46.4%. CONCLUSION: The parent’s level of knowledge in our study was acceptable and more than half of the parent’s attitude towards epilepsy was positive. Practices of parents at the time of last seizure were acceptable. However, there is still gap for improvement regarding wrong practices. It is suggested that KAP issues must be taken to account in epilepsy related educational programs and government policies.

Epilepsy, Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, Epileptic children