Improving the attitudes, knowledge, concerns and practices of primary caregivers of febrile convulsion children: The efficacy of systematic nursing instruction

Background: Febrile convulsion is the most common seizure disorder in children. Seizure attack symptoms can have a strong and negative psychological impact on primary caregivers. Primary caregivers of febrile convulsion children need clear information to manage seizures and reduce their anxiety. Purpose: This paper studies the comparative efficacy of systematic nursing instruction and regular nursing care on the knowledge, attitudes, concerns and practices of primary caregivers of febrile convulsion children. Methods: A experimental study enrolled a purposive sample of caregivers of febrile convulsion children admitted to a medical center pediatric ward in central Taiwan. The control group (n = 22) received regular nursing care from staff nurses. The intervention group (n = 24) received systematic nursing instruction from the researcher. Intervention group instruction followed febrile convulsion care handbook guidelines and used thorough explanations and physical demonstrations (on a model) to highlight key points and resolve problems. A parental febrile convulsion care knowledge, attitudes, concerns, and practices questionnaire measured differences between the two groups immediately prior to and after the intervention and at two-weeks following hospital discharge. SPSS/PC 18.0 analyzed data using descriptive, χ², pair t-tests, and independent t-tests. Results: While post-intervention results found that both groups achieved significant improvements in attitudes, knowledge, concerns, and practices, we found significantly more improvement in the intervention group than the control group (p <.001) on all four scales. This difference remained significant at two-weeks post-discharge (p <.01). Conclusions: Systematic nursing instruction based on the febrile convulsion care handbook may be promoted at clinics to improve the self-efficacy of caregivers of febrile convulsion children.