The role of educating parents of children with fever and febrile convulsions in reducing the intensity of anxiety of parents; A Quasi-experimental study in Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Fever and convulsions are one of the most common forms of convulsions and the cause of hospitalization in children under 5 years old. The occurrence of fever and convulsions in a child causes parents to worry about the child’s death, and this mental pressure can harm the parent’s mental health. Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of education in reducing the intensity of anxiety of parents with a child with fever and seizures due to fever in Gorgan. Patients and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study 49 parents of children who had fever and convulsions caused by fever in the second half of 2018 and were admitted to Taleghani hospital in Gorgan were studied. The intensity of anxiety was measured using the Burns Anxiety Inventory questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 24 statistical software. Results: In this study, 49 parents of children with fever and seizures were investigated. The average age of parents was 30.27 ± 12.82 years. The ethnicity of 63.3% of parents was Fars and 91.8% of participating parents were mothers, 86.6% of mothers were household and 12.2% were employed. The results of the study showed that the level of anxiety of the parents before the training was such that 2% of the parents had minimal or no anxiety, 1.6% had mild anxiety and 49% of the parents had extreme anxiety or panic. Conclusion: In the present study, after the educational intervention, the anxiety of the parents compared to before the training showed a significant decrease, which shows the effect of the training on reducing the anxiety of the parents.