The educational needs of mothers with a child with seizure: A cross-sectional descriptive study

Introduction: From 100 to 150 million children under the age of five years old suffer from febrile seizures worldwide and in Iran, it ranges from 5% to 3% of all children under the age of five. It was proved that improve in educational needs of mothers, symptoms and occurrence of the disease will be controlled by the lower consumption of medications and the normal development of the child. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the educational needs of mothers with a child with seizure referred to the 17-Shahrivar Educational Center in Rasht. Methods: In this descriptive study, 200 mothers who were referred to the 17-Shahrivar Educational Center in Rasht were selected by census sampling. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire consisting of five sections (including questions related to the demographic characteristics of the samples, questions related to the cause and predisposing factors of children's seizure, questions about signs and symptoms of seizure of children, questions about the complications of seizure in children and related questions to the care and prevention of childhood seizure). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics at a significant level of p≤0.05. Results: In relation to the educational needs of mothers, 17.2% of the causes and predisposing factors for seizure were in children, 51.2% had symptoms and seizure symptoms, 38.2% had seizure complications and 55%. There was a significant relationship between maternal and father's educational level, number of family members, place of residence, information about the seizure of children with the level of educational needs of mothers (P <0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, mothers need to be educated about the causes and factors, symptoms, complications, and prevention of childhood seizure. By providing appropriate education to them, mothers can manage the problems for children's seizure. Therefore, the formation of training classes in health centers and mothers' participation in these classes will enable them to increase their knowledge and skills in child care.

Keywords: Educational Needs; Mothers; Children with Seizure; Educational Model