Muhammad Akbar Malik, Muhammad Arif Tarar, Muhammad Usaid Qureshi, Muhammad Saeed, Muhammad Naseer, Tipu Sultan, Qurban Ali, Hamza Sardar Malik.
Parents perspective of childhood epilepsy in Punjab - Pakistan.
Pak Paed J Jan ;32(4):236-41.

In order to develop effective awareness campaigns for efficiently designed health provision projects around childhood epilepsy issues, it is important to understand society’s attitude towards children with epilepsy. Aims and Objectives: Aims: The aims of this study were to; 1) contribute information on the needs of parents having epileptic children, 2)develop a better community understanding of needs and capacity of children with epilepsy, 3) improving community understanding is a long term strategy to which the recommendations of this project will contribute. Objectives: 1) The research was conducted with specific objectives to :1) identify the areas in which parents having epileptic children feel stigmatized and their condition misunderstood , 2) identify the services for children with epilepsy and distinguish the current unmet needs. Material and Methods: A descriptive questionnaire based empirical study was conducted at the neurology centre of a tertiary care paediatric hospital from July, 2007 to February, 2008. Parents of 400 epileptic children were randomly selected and interviewed evaluating their knowledge, attitude and practice regarding childhood epilepsy. Results: More than 90% belonged to poor socioeconomic class .The median age at the time of interview was 28 yrs; with a range of 18years to 56 years ,with 65% having primary education or higher. Thirty percent believed that they were well informed about the disease. Only 5% knew the exact mechanism of seizures. Eighty percent believed epilepsy impaired learning ability as well as working capacity. Ninety percent objected their children marrying a person with epilepsy. Up to 36%, even in this study group still believed seizures were associated with evil spirits. Conclusion and Recommendation: There are still a number of false beliefs and discrimination against children with epilepsy prevalent in the community. A community awareness initiative should be developed focusing diverse cultural and linguistic cultures to improve provision of medical and social services to families with epileptic children

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