Last modified: 2018-09-09
Abstract
Objectives: This is a descriptive cross sectional study aiming at exploration of the attitudes of parents of children with different chronic illnesses towards epilepsy and how these attitudes are affected by perception of epilepsy.
Methods: The study took place in a tertiary referral hospital; two groups of parents were included. Gp1, parent of children with epilepsy, Gp2, parents of children with different chronic illnesses who follow up at the same hospital. We used a questionnaire that was adopted from different studies. Face to face conversation was applied to a total of 389 parents, to reach a total of 300 responses between the two groups.
Results: We found a deficient knowledge regarding diagnosis and general information at both groups, but more seriously, an attitude characterized by irrational look to epilepsy in comparison to other chronic illnesses which could be more serious than epilepsy. We also found that most parents have their knowledge from sources other than doctors.
In conclusion, the advances in communication, treatment options, and medical services, have not changed the misconception around epilepsy, and may be wide spread campaigns among population (not just epileptic patients and their care givers) may help in overcoming this problem.