Abstract:
Introduction: Febrile convulsion, a common neurological disorder in under-five
children, can be distressing for parents. Inadequate awareness of parents may hinder
effective management.
Objective: To assess the knowledge on febrile convulsion among the parents of under-
five children attending for the vaccination in Jaffna MOH clinics.
Methodology: An institutional-based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out
among 422 parents of under-five children attending for the vaccination in Jaffna MOH
clinics. A pretested and validated interviewer-administered Tamil questionnaire was used
to collect the data. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 27 and presented through
mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage. Ethical approval was obtained from
the Ethics Review Committee, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 31 years (SD- 5.237). The male-to-female
ratio was 1:3. The mean knowledge score of them was 20.41 (SD- 3.948) out of a total
knowledge score of 36. Notably, 36.5% reported that they had personal experience with
febrile convulsions, mostly coinciding with their child's experience. The most common
age of occurrence of febrile convulsion is from 6 months to five years was identified by
half of them. The common risk factors identified by them were: high fever (71.1%), viral
infection (48.1%) and family history of febrile convulsion (43.8%). Major symptoms
identified by many were: teeth clenching (77%), saliva drooling (77%), muscle twitching
(59%) or stiffening (61.6%), and loss of consciousness (50.2%). Nearly half believed every
child with febrile convulsions would experience a future episode. Misconceptions
regarding management techniques, such as position the patient to the left lateral side
(alongside other actions like immobilization, shaking, using metal rods, and mouth-to-
mouth resuscitation), underscore the importance of specific and focused education on these
topics.
Conclusions: Study findings emphasize the crucial requirement for focused education to
improve parental comprehension of febrile convulsions and its management.
