Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices among Parents of Children with Seizures

Background and Aim: About 10% of people worldwide have one seizure during their lifetime, of which 60% are childhood onset with varied public awareness and discrepancies in attitudes toward seizures across different cultures. Several studies in developing countries have shown that the general population has poor knowledge and negative attitudes toward seizures. Our study aims to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practices among parents of children with seizures. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, questionnaire-based study was conducted among parents visiting the pediatric department of a medical college hospital of coastal Karnataka from November 2023 to January 2024. Results: Among 150 parents who participated in the study, 78 (52%) were hailing from urban locality and 116 (78%) belonged to middle socioeconomic status. About 118 (78.7%) parents had children aged 6 months to 5 years with seizures. About 126 (84%) parents were educated beyond college level. The mean knowledge score was 11.18 ± 1.8, the mean attitude score was 6.07 ± 1.7, and the mean practice score was 7.15 ± 1. A statistically significant association for parental practices was observed with urban region of distribution (odds ratio [OR] =86.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] =11.34–652.78, P < 0.0001, highly significant) and middle-to-upper socioeconomic status (OR = 3.46, 95% CI = 1.45–8.27, P = 0.003, significant). However, there was no statistically significant association between parental knowledge and attitude with any of the sociodemographic factors. Conclusion: Our study showed that region of distribution and socioeconomic status directly affect parental practices and therefore management and outcomes in children with seizures.