Teachers' knowledge about first aid epilepsy and seizures in Al- Qunfudah, Saudi Arabia

Background: Epilepsy is the commonest neurological disorders and one of the oldest diseases affecting humans. Epilepsy affects 6.54 out of 1,000 people, most of them are adolescents in Saudi Arabia. Children with epilepsy live under the estimate that at any time they may not be able to function normally or participate in their normal daily activities and they also have a risk of experiencing seizure attacks at school. Thus, Teachers' knowledge about epilepsy and first aid in seizures can have a major impact on a child's health and the goal of this research is to assess the awareness, knowledge and attitudes of teachers toward the disease in Al-Qunfudah region, Saudi Arabia. Method: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed electronically among school teachers in Alqunfudah region, to assess primary demographic data about their knowledge regarding epilepsy, seizure first aid and post -seizure care. Result: Our sample included 1171 school teachers, the contributed male teachers were 32.54% and female teachers were 67.46%. The most of contributor had moderate knowledge of epilepsy and be deficient in first aid training. 88.98% recognized epilepsy as neurological disease. Our study showed marked relationship between knowledge score and qualification (P -value= 0.05). Conclusion: The teachers in Al-qunfudah region have moderate knowledge of epilepsy and be deficient in first aid training. We recommend more health education about epilepsy and awareness campaigns, adequate training for first aid of epileptic seizures.