Objective

To explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of caregivers of children with epilepsy.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 107 consecutive caregivers of children diagnosed with epilepsy, attending the neurology outpatient clinic in a Pediatric tertiary university hospital, in Khartoum, Sudan for regular check-up. Data were obtained by an interviewer through a structured questionnaire, while clinical parameters of children with epilepsy were taken from medical records.

Results

Most respondents knew that epilepsy is not an infectious disease (92.5%), while the least proportion of caregivers (41.1%) knew that epilepsy did not emanate from a supernatural origin. The majority of caregivers were with the idea that epilepsy caused lost opportunities for study (66.4%) and that epilepsy was looked upon negatively by others (64.5%). Less than half (39.7%) of these caregivers rolled their child on to the side during a seizure, and more than a third (37.2%) admitted to sprinkling water over the child during his/her seizure. Caregivers’ of children with Generalized Tonic-Clonic (GTC) convulsions, reported significantly lower knowledge scores than caregivers whose children did not experience GTC seizures (p = 0.016). Caregivers of children with GTC seizures were more likely to believe epilepsy was for the most part hereditary (p = 0.006), and that children with epilepsy lost consciousness during a seizure (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that caregivers require periodic epilepsy-related educational programs. This study is an invaluable tool for tailoring the delivery of information and support resources for caregivers in our region.

中文翻译：

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苏丹癫痫儿童照料者的知识、态度和做法

客观的

探索癫痫儿童看护者的知识、态度和做法。

方法

这项横断面研究包括 107 名被诊断出患有癫痫症的儿童的连续护理人员，他们在苏丹喀土穆的一家儿科三级大学医院的神经科门诊就诊以进行定期检查。数据由采访者通过结构化问卷获得，而癫痫儿童的临床参数则来自病历。

结果

大多数受访者知道癫痫不是传染病 (92.5%)，而最少比例的护理人员 (41.1%) 知道癫痫并非源于超自然的起源。大多数护理人员认为癫痫会导致失去学习机会 (66.4%) 并且其他人对癫痫持负面看法 (64.5%)。不到一半 (39.7%) 的看护人在癫痫发作期间将孩子翻到一边，超过三分之一 (37.2%) 承认在孩子癫痫发作期间向孩子泼水。患有全身性强直阵挛 (GTC) 惊厥的儿童的看护人报告的知识得分明显低于未经历 GTC 癫痫发作的儿童的看护人 ( p = 0.016）。GTC 癫痫儿童的看护者更有可能相信癫痫在很大程度上是遗传性的 ( p  = 0.006)，并且癫痫儿童在癫痫发作期间失去知觉 ( p  < 0.001)。

结论

我们的研究结果表明，护理人员需要定期接受癫痫相关的教育计划。这项研究是为我们地区的护理人员量身定制信息和支持资源提供的宝贵工具。