EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTIONS ON PARENTAL FIRST AID FOR
RECURRENT FEBRILE CONVULSION
Huang MC1,
Liu CC2, Huang CC2, Thomas K3
Departments of 1Nursing,
and 2Pediatrics, National Cheng Kung University,
Tainan, Taiwan; 3School
of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Objective: To evaluate an educational interventions
on parental first aid practices for the recurrent febrile convulsions (FCs).
Methods: A 2-year follow
up, non-equivalent comparison group design was used to evaluate the
intervention effects. Two educational interventions were provided for FC
parents in southern Taiwan. A total of 326 parents were assigned to either
receive a mailed pamphlet (n=196) or attend a 2-hour educational program
(n=130) of their choice. Five telephone interviews focused on investigating
FC episodes and the parental first aid practices were conducted at the 6th,
9th, 15th, 21st, and 27th month
after the FC episode. The McNemar test and X2 test were used for statistic analysis.
Results: Of the 326 FC
children, 77 (23.6%) occurred recurrent FCs within two years. Parents in
the pamphlet group did not improve their first aid practices for recurrent
FCs. Furthermore, more parents rush their children to the hospital during
seizures (from 71% for initial FC to 88% for recurrent FC). Parents in the
program group demonstrated significant improvement in recommended first aid
for recurrent FC, particularly in protecting the convulsing child (8% vs.
36%, p= 0.02) and lying the child
on his/her side (19% vs. 47%, p=
0.01). In addition, the non-recommended first aid practices were
significantly decreased in rushing the convulsing child to the hospital
(89% vs. 31%, p<0.01), and
putting protective devices into the child’s mouth (39% vs. 8%, p<0.01).
Conclusion: The
educational program had significant effects on improving parental first-aid
practices from the initial FC to the recurrence.