Effect of Febrile Convulsion Training on Anxiety and Knowledge

INTRODUCTION Febrile convulsion (FC) is defined as a type of seizure with fever in the absence of any 6 months to 5 years of age and is the most common neurological disorder of infants and young children. Although FC occurs in 2-4% of the entire paediatric population, 90% of cases occur between 6 months and 3 months of age. Simple FCs, defined as generalised seizures lasting less than 15 minutes, and represent the majority of febrile convulsions that do not recur within 24 hours. The risk of mortality and morbidity in FC is very low and there is no detectable brain damage associated with the disease. Complications of febrile seizures in children include psychosocial effects, cognitive deficits, hospital bed occupancy, prolonged hospitalisation and increased healthcare costs. In a 12-year follow-up of neurological complications from febrile seizures, delayed neurological development and abnormalities were found in 20% of children, neurological deficits in 10% and learning disabilities in 5%. Simple measures such as controlling fever, washing feet and using antipyretics can prevent the incidence of the disease and febrile seizure complications in children. Due to the concurrent relatively high prevalence of this disease in children, the occurrence of two important phenomena, such as fever and seizures, causes severe anxiety to parents and may impair the quality of life of the family. Informing parents by providing adequate knowledge and awareness about fever and seizures is an important step in reducing anxieties and worries. In a study conducted by Sheringham on 154 parents with children in febrile seizures, 54.3% of individuals receiving training had appropriate knowledge and there was a direct correlation between parents' knowledge and practice. In Flury's study, 91% of parents experienced severe anxiety when faced with febrile seizures, and the intensity of anxiety was significantly higher in untrained individuals than in trained individuals. Parmer, in a study of 140 parents with children who had febrile seizures in India, noted that 59.3% of parents were not aware of this disease and only 20% knew the normal values of body temperature. Education of parents was emphasised in the study. In the literature, the number of studies aiming to determine the level of knowledge by providing education to families of children hospitalised with FC is insufficient. Therefore, in the light of the literature, the study will be conducted to determine the impact of education given to parents/carers due to their knowledge, attitudes, practices and concerns in the prevention of febrile seizures in children.