Parental knowledge and practice regarding febrile seizure in their children

Abstract

Background: Febrile seizure (FS) is a benign convulsive disorder in under 5-year-old children, but at the same time, it is an alarming event in the lives of both child and parents. Lack of parent's knowledge about the nature of FS and how they should deal with it can lead to poor management. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and practice of parents regarding FS in their children and to assess the association of knowledge and practice of parents with certain socio-demographic characteristics. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 100 parents of children with FS attending emergency department in Babylon Teaching Hospital for Pediatrics and Gynecology and AL-Noor Hospital for Pediatrics during a period of 5 months (from March 1 to August 1, 2018). A questionnaire was administered to parents which included items regarding family characteristics, characteristics of FS, their knowledge, and their first-aid practices with FS. Results: Regarding maternal age and paternal age, they ranged between 15–43 and 20–50 years, respectively. More than half of them live in urban areas, and concerning educational level of mothers, 70% were either illiterate or had a primary level of education. Majority of FS children were presented with first attack who represent a percentage of about 69%. About half of the respondents have good level of knowledge. Fifty-two percent of them considered that FS is equivalent to epilepsy, 69% stated that it is a life-threatening event, and 80% knew that it occurs during febrile occasions. Only 25% of parents took their children to doctor during attack of fit without first aids. Conclusions: Parents' knowledge regarding FS was significantly associated with higher maternal education, urban residence, and mother age. A higher level of practices was shown to have a significant association with increasing in the number of episodes experienced by parents and advancing in maternal age.