[Anthropological approach to current parental perceptions of children's seizures]

Efficacy of an interventional educational programme in mitigating post-traumatic stress in parents who have witnessed a febrile seizure: a pilot before-and-after study

OBJECTIVES

To measure post-traumatic stress in parents who have witnessed their child's first simple febrile seizure and to assess the impact of workshops where information is dispensed, proper reactions are demonstrated and dialogue is encouraged on the mitigation of parental stress.

DESIGN

A pilot before-and-after study, with control group, using self-reported measures from the Impact of Event Scale-Revised.

SETTING

Data from two French participating centres.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 50 parents who witnessed their child's first simple febrile seizure.

INTERVENTION

Parents selected themselves into either group 1: attending a workshop (intervention group), or group 2: no further management (control group).

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

(1) Parental post-traumatic stress was assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised a minimum of 4 weeks after the seizure (before any workshop if applicable). A high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder was indicated by a score ≥33. (2) To assess the efficacy of workshops on the mitigation of parental stress, all parents self-completed the Impact of Event Scale-Revised a second time at a minimum of 10 weeks after the seizure (after any workshop if applicable).

RESULTS

Four weeks after the seizure, 76% of the total parents presented an Impact of Event Scale-Revised score ≥33. At 10 weeks after the seizure, the scores were 18.1 points lower (95% CI 11.66 to 24.61, P<0.0001) in group 1 versus only 5.51 points lower (95% CI 2.76 to 8.27, P=0.0003) in group 2 (intragroup comparison), and were significantly lower in group 1 compared with group 2 (intergroup comparison), P=0.02.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents who have witnessed their child's first simple febrile seizure are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder 4 weeks after the seizure. Our innovative workshops are associated with a significant mitigation of the parental post-traumatic stress.