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. 2022 Feb 10:18:100528.
doi: 10.1016/j.ebr.2022.100528. eCollection 2022.

Knowledge gap exists among caregivers of adults compared to caregivers of children with epilepsy: A comparative analysis from a low resource setting

Rajesh Shankar Iyer  1 , Anita Ann Sunny  1 , Nisha Jaranraj  1 , Uma Govindaraj  2 , Manjula Dhandapani  2
Affiliations

Knowledge gap exists among caregivers of adults compared to caregivers of children with epilepsy: A comparative analysis from a low resource setting

Rajesh Shankar Iyer et al. Epilepsy Behav Rep. .

Abstract

Caregivers of adults (CG-A) and caregivers of children (CG-C) may differ in their knowledge, attitude and behavior and hence their education requirements during epilepsy counseling could vary. This study compares the current knowledge, attitudes, behavior during a seizure, presence of myths surrounding epilepsy and ability to recognize seizures among a sample of CG-A and CG-C. Caregivers of children and adult patients with minimum 6 months history of epilepsy were enrolled. Information was collected using a questionnaire about clinical and demographic details and five domains (KAP-plus); knowledge, attitude, behavior, presence of myths and a video data for identification of focal impaired awareness seizures (FIAS) and generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS). There were 132 CG-A and 127 CG-C. CG-C were younger and better educated compared to CG-A (formal education of 64.6% vs 44.7% p = 0.001). CG-A and CG-C were comparable in the knowledge and attitude domains. CG-A scored less than CG-C in the domains of behavior (15.5 vs 16.8 p = <0.001), myths (15.4 vs 16.2 p = 0.002), video recognition of FIAS and GTCS (0.7 vs 0.94 p = 0.001) and KAP-plus score (22.9 vs 24.6 p = 0.017). The knowledge-behavior or knowing-doing gap, knowledge-faith gap and knowledge-recognition gaps existed more among CG-A compared to CG-C. Focused education strategies are required to bridge the gap among CG-A.

Keywords: Caregivers of epilepsy; First-aid of seizures; Knowledge gap in epilepsy; Knowledge of epilepsy; Myths about epilepsy; Seizure recognition.

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Figures

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Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Suggested translational strategy to bridge the knowledge gap observed in our study. CG-caregiver; PWE-people with epilepsy; ASM-anti-seizure medications.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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