PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH EPILEPSY CAPTURED BY EPILEPSY: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Background: Children with epilepsy and their families are engaged in the process of treating their condition, and are experiencing the consequences of this disease. Epilepsy can have many negative effects on various aspects of all family members' lives, particularly the parents. No qualitative study before was performed on parents of children with epilepsy. From that nurses should be aware about this client's life word for better caring, this study designed. Objectives: This study aimed at exploring experience of parents of children with epilepsy. Patients and methods: This study guided by Van Manen's method of doing phenomenological study. Purposive sampling with maximum variation sampling strategy was used. 10 people participated. The data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, which were conducted face-to-face with individuals in a quiet room. The interviews were conducted at participants' place and time of choice, and lasted 35 to 100 min. Results: The main theme emerged in this study was "fenced in by the child disease". Parents of children with epilepsy have numerous problems; strongly affect the routine of their lives. Our study shows this parents life are deeply affected by child disease. Limitation in relationships, travel restrictions, drop out from school, leaving the job are four sub themes emerged in this study. Conclusions: There is also a need to pay special attention to these families and provide help to them in the Iranian health system, such as using nurses as the large part of the system to relive their pain. Providing counseling for, and educating these parents and using mass media to increase public awareness about epilepsy is also necessary.