TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND FIRST AID CARE OF FEBRILE CONVULSION IN NURSERY AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Febrile Convulsion (FC) is a major cause of medical emergency in children aged six months to six years and may occur anywhere including school environment. Studies focusing on teachers’ practice of First Aid Care (FAC) to children with FC are limited in Nigeria, yet children spend substantial time under teachers’ care. This study was conducted to assess teachers’ knowledge, attitude and FAC given to children with FC among teachers in nursery and primary schools in Ibadan North Local Government Area (LGA), Nigeria. Using a two-stage sampling method, 402 teachers from 47 private and 10 public schools were recruited into this cross sectional study. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of FC, attitude towards children with FC and FAC practice. Knowledge was measured with a 10-point item scale and categorized as good (score >4) and poor (score ≤4). Attitude was measured with a 17-item instrument, each item was scored on a 5-point likert scale with a total of 85 and categorized as poor (≤51) and good (>51). First aid care was assessed as appropriate or inappropriate based on defined protocol. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. Mean age of respondents was 35.4±10.6 years, 76.4% were female and 92.3% had post-secondary education. About 41.1% of teachers had ≤5 years teaching experience while 39.6% and 19.0% had more than 11 years and 6-10 years of experience respectively. Majority (85.3%) of respondents had heard about FC; with radio (62.7%) and television (55.2%) being common sources of information. Only 30.6% respondents had good knowledge of FC. Most (90.8%) respondents had good attitude towards children with FC, as 52.0% of respondents would not mind having their biological child play with a child with FC. However, 27% of respondents would not like to have a child with FC in their class. Reasons for the objection were: distraction in class (25.9%), inexperience of care for FC (18.5%), and avoidance of stigmatization from other pupils (14.8%). Forty-one percent of respondents had witnessed a child convulsed in school. Of these,114(69.1%) gave inappropriate care such as putting a spoon into the child’s mouth (28.1%) and pouring water on the child’s body (15.8%). Teachers with ≥11 years teaching experience (52.1%), compared to those with 6-10 years (45.0%) and those with ≤ 5 years (44.0%) had good attitude towards children who had FC (p<0.05). More male (73.5%) than female (66.7%) and more teachers with ≤5 years (76.5%) teaching experience compared to those with 6-10 years (65.6%) and those with ≤11 years (64.2%) experience gave inappropriate FAC. Sixty-eighty percent of respondents who had good knowledge of FC compared with 69.1% who had poor knowledge of FC gave inappropriate FAC. Teachers’ attitude to febrile convulsion was good while their knowledge and practices of appropriate care were poor. There is the need to design intervention programmes targeted at improving knowledge and appropriate first aid care for febrile convulsion.