Parental knowledge and practices regarding febrile convulsions in Turkish children

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 Behcet 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 (X-2) 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.