Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Parents Regarding Convulsion in Children Under Five Years in Muea Community, Cameroon.
Febrile convulsion (FC) also known as febrile seizure (FS) or simply convulsion is the most frequently occurring type of convulsion which causes most of hospital admissions in children
under five years of age. Convulsions are usually due to high body temperature and affects 4-10% of children under 5-years of age. To parents it is an extremely frightening, shocking and life-threatening scenario which is traumatizing emotionally and anxiety-provoking. These feelings could be due to the fact that parents have poor knowledge on convulsion, which could be the reason for the implementation of inadequate first aid measures such as harmful traditional practices.
Some parents may lack the knowledge or adequate preparedness to offer first aid to a child who is having a seizure. Parental anxiety and misconceptions about FC contribute to a significant decrease in the quality of life of children and their love ones after a FC.
Febrile convulsion usually occurs in children aged three months to five-years, commonly associated with fever but without evidence of intracranial infection or defined cause for the seizure. In developing countries the prevalence varied between 1.33% and 11.61%, whereas the reported prevalence rates from developed countries was between 2% and 5%. This variation in prevalence may be due to differences in case definitions, ascertainment methods, geographical variation and cultural factors. In Cameroon a study conducted in Yaounde revealed that the proportion
of children admitted with FC was 6.1% with the mean age being 24.6-months.8 In Volta Regional hospital Ghana, Statistics show that FC in children under five years accounted about forty to 55%
of admissions in 2013. This study revealed that overall, parents’ knowledge on convulsion was good.
Pediatr Neonatal Nurs Open J. 2021; 7(1): 13-20. doi: 10.17140/PNNOJ-7-133
