Abstract
A recent study has indicated that 70 million people are estimated to suffer from epilepsy. Despite the increase in education and health care, some health professionals continue to linger in darkness about the cause and treatment options of the disease. The main objective was to study the nurses within the Asutifi North District to understand their subjective experiences of epilepsy in a socio-cultural context and how their knowledge shaped their practice towards people with epilepsy. The exploratory descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. The study participants were selected using a multistage sampling technique to arrive at a sample size of 102 using a standard statistical formula. Data analysis was done using STATA version 12. Findings indicated that 45.1% of nurses have had theory lessons only, 29.4% clinical demonstrations only, and 25.5% of participants said they have had both theory and clinical demonstrations. The bivariate logistic analysis proved a significant difference in knowledge of epilepsy and demographic factors as observed among religion (p=0.017), speciality area (p=0.045), and close family relationship with epilepsy (p=0.001). When the socio-demographic characteristics were cross-tabulated with practice on epilepsy, the area of speciality (RMN) (p=0.001) appeared statistically significant. Nurses in the Asutifi North District of the Ahafo Region of Ghana tended to have low knowledge and poor practice on epilepsy. Therefore, enhancing nursing education and training on epilepsy is imperative to improving health care delivery for people living with epilepsy.
Keywords: Knowledge; Practice; Epilepsy; Nurses; Asutifi North District
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