Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of parents/caregivers towards epilepsy in children – A cross- sectional observational study

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of parents/caregivers toward epilepsy in paediatric patients at a tertiary care centre of North India. METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out among 418 parents or caregivers using convenience sampling technique with 16-item questionnaire in English language and also translated to local language that is Hindi. Children with epilepsy who visited the paediatric outpatient department within a year were included in the study (January 2021–22). A total of 450 children visited the clinic, 32 of whom were excluded for various reasons, and the final analysis was conducted among the 418 parents or caregivers who completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: The male and female patients were 56.7% (n = 237) and 43.3% (n = 181) respectively. The age distribution of patients with less than 5 years, 6–10 years and more than 10 years were 35.6% (n = 149), 54.5% (n = 228), 9.8% (n = 41) respectively. Only one third of parents and caregivers did not consider epilepsy as psychiatric illness. Most of the parents and caregivers think that epilepsy affects school performance (77.2%) and hinders family life (71.0%). More than half of the parents or caregivers believes that the society discriminates against person with epilepsy and around 46.6% consider that alternative medicine can cure epilepsy. The parents or caregivers felt financial burden due to epilepsy was in 72.5% and approximately 78.5% perceived that their work is affected because of their child's epilepsy. Perception of epilepsy as a psychiatric illness was found to be significantly higher in parents with primary and secondary level education, when compared to parents who were graduates. The practice of the parents or caregivers towards administration of drugs to their child was good, however around 36.6% (n = 153) missed the dose of anti-seizure medications. CONCLUSION: The study highlights the substantial knowledge, attitude and practice gap amongst parents and caregivers for children with epilepsy which indirectly has huge impact on the management of epilepsy. Thus it becomes utmost important to educate the family as well as the community regarding epilepsy which will help in improving the therapeutic outcomes, overall quality of life and interpersonal and social relationships of these children.