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Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

DOI

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Abstract

Aims: Families with children afflicted with febrile convulsions must be given adequate information regarding seizures and fever, and they need emotional support and first-aid demonstrations. In this study, we aimed to determine parental knowledge and practices regarding febrile convulsions in Turkish children. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires were given to 122 parents whose children were admitted to the emergency service of Behçet Uz Children´s Hospital between July 2006 and April 2007 with febrile convulsion episodes. Sixty-three parents whose children had a febrile convulsion for the first time (Group 1) and 59 parents whose children had a recurrent febrile convulsion (Group 2) completed the survey. Differences in parental knowledge and practices regarding febrile convulsions in the two groups were tested by Student´s test or chi-square (\chi2) test. Results: Parents in both groups generally believed that febrile convulsion is a life-threatening event (81.2% and 90%), and that EEG and CT were necessary (81% and 88.1%). Forty-seven parents (73.4%) in Group 1 and 52 (85.2%) in Group 2 had concerns about possible development of epilepsy in their children in the future. Approximately half of the parents did not know what to do during a febrile convulsion episode. Conclusions: We believe the questionnaire facilitates the quantitative measurement and systematic evaluation of the knowledge, attitude and concerns of families in the matter of febrile convulsions. Furthermore, the efficiency of parental first-aid practices can be evaluated and significant improvement can be achieved by giving adequate information to the parents.

Keywords

Febrile convulsion, childhood, parental knowledge, practice, questionnaire

First Page

343

Last Page

350

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