Determination of Parental Concerns about Seizures among Children with Epilepsy

Abstract

Epilepsy is often misunderstood and not taken seriously as compared to other diseases the reason behind it is a lack of health-related knowledge, poor economic condition, and shortness of health facilities in remote areas. Objective: To determine the parental concerns about seizures among children with epilepsy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Neurology division of a public hospital. After receiving informed consent, the current study involved 36 parents of epileptic patients. The parents of children with epilepsy who visited the neurology clinic (OPD) were included. The parent's concerns about seizures scale was used to measure parental worry about seizures in children with epilepsy. Results: 36 parents of epileptic patients were enrolled in the current study. There were 33.3% male and 66.7% female participants. The majority of the participants dealt with children having generalized seizure types. Parents were more concerned about seizures can lead to underlying disease 23(63.9), they are often concerned that their child’s epilepsy has unknown cause 14(38.9), brain damage 13(36.1), loss of intelligence 17(47.2), and child developing emotional problems 13(36.1). They also show concern sometimes when a seizure may be triggered due to if they do or don’t do something 22(61.1) and they also think that their child may have learning issues 11(30.6). Conclusions: The current study shows that parents play a vital role in improving the family functioning of epileptic families. Parents played an important role in helping children with epilepsy cope with their differences from other children.