Assessment of knowledge and Attitude and Practice of Parents towards Epilepsy among Children in Abha City

Abstract

Background: one of the most common neurological disorders among pediatrics is epilepsy. The lack of knowledge about epilepsy would influence the life of affected children. Objectives: considering the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding epilepsy among children in Jeddah City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Methods: this wasa cross sectional community survey design that was conducted from June to August 2017 on 930 adult Saudi parents. A pre-tested questionnaire was distributed among Saudi parents. The questionnaire included the demographics of included subjects and the source of their information, the knowledge, attitude and practice pattern. Results: all of the parents were heard before about epilepsy, but most of them had poor knowledge regarding the cause of the disease, the nature of epilepsy as neurological, but not mental disease and the surgical treatment of epilepsy. The majority of respondents had negative attitudes toward the ability of epileptic children to had normal life. The level of practice was inadequate among most of parents as most of them did not know how to deal with epileptic children with seizures and most of them would avoid dealing with epileptic children. The KAP was inadequate among 78.2% of parents and was good among 21.8% of them. Conclusion: most of Saudi parents had poor knowledge regarding the epilepsy that resulted in poor attitude and practice misconceptions. The adequate education about epilepsy would increase the incidence of disease management.