Effect of health education on female primary school teachers' knowledge of seizure first aid: An interventional study.

Introduction: Epilepsy is a common neurological disease. Patients with epilepsy are at risk of developing seizure at any time. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of health education on schoolteachers' first aid management of epileptic seizure.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to participating primary school teachers in the city of Makkah. It included baseline demographic data, a teacher's awareness about epilepsy, as well as first aid measures. An educational lecture was later delivered to teachers and was followed by a discussion. Awareness and attitude were re-assessed using the same questionnaire.

Results: A total of 259 female primary school teachers completed the study. Before intervention, 134 (51.7%) of the teachers had good awareness regarding epilepsy, which was significantly increased to 86.9% after the intervention. For seizure first aid, 45.9% of teachers correctly reported that would make sure the person is safe and ask for help in the case of witnessing a seizure attack, which was improved to 84.2% after intervention, with a percent change of 38.2% (p = 0.001). In addition, rolling a person onto their side and asking for help after the end of a seizure was known by 53.3% of the teachers before the intervention and increased to 84.6% after the intervention, showing a percent change of 31.2% (p = 0.001).

Conclusion: The health education program resulted in significant improvements to teachers' responses to seizure and improvements in all aspects of epilepsy awareness.