DESIGNING A PROTOCOL FOR MANAGING OF PUPILS WITH EPILEPSY AT THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Background: Epilepsy or seizure disorder is a brain disorder that diagnosed after occurrence of two or more epileptic seizures. Children are the fastest growing populations affected by epilepsy. The prevalence of idiopathic epilepsy in a current Egyptian study conducted at Ghabria governorate was 7.2/1000 among school age children. Epilepsy can affect the pupil’s academic achievements and learning. Schools have to implement a protocol to assist pupils with epilepsy according to their specific needs. Study aimed to design a protocol for managing of epilepsy at the governmental primary schools. A descriptive cross sectional design was utilized in this study. The study was carried out at ten governmental primary schools affiliated to Directorate of Education in Mansoura city which had pupils with epilepsy. A convenient sample of 350 of school personnel and 72 guardians of the pupils with epilepsy. Also, a purposive sample of ten professional academic experts and 30 school personnel to provide their feedback regarding the designed protocol. Seven tools were developed by the researcher for collecting of data and designing of the protocol to assess; socio-demographic and economic characteristics of the school personnel, knowledge, previous subjective experiences and attitude of them regarding epilepsy, expectations of guardians of the pupils with epilepsy regarding school health services, experts' and school personnel's evaluation of the designed protocol. Results: all the school personnel had poor level of knowledge regarding epilepsy. The most frequent previous subjective proper management of the school personnel was cushioning the head of the pupil during the epileptic fits which represented 31.0% of them. Most of them had positive attitude toward necessity of having a school health team trained in first aid to manage epileptic fit. Regarding negative attitude, 67.1% of them suggested that only the administrative professions are suitable for the controlled pupil with epilepsy. For guardians’ expectations toward school health services to their offspring with epilepsy, majority of them expected dissatisfaction with the school health services. Concerning experts’ evaluation of the designed protocol, all the experts agreed the importance of the topic and the novelty of its information. For the school personnel’s evaluation of the designed protocol, all the school personnel agreed coordination and clarity of the objectives. Conclusion: Designing a protocol for epilepsy within the primary schools will prepare the school personnel to manage epilepsy.