KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE REGARDING EPILEPSY AMONG NURSES IN ASUTIFI NORTH DISTRICT

Purpose: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding epilepsy among nurses within the Asutifi North District with the aim of understanding their subjective experiences and knowledge on epilepsy in a sociocultural context and how their attitude shape their practice towards people with epilepsy. Methodology: The study employed an exploratory descriptive cross-sectional design. The study population consisted of nurses who have been licensed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana and working in government facilities. The exclusion criteria were private health facilities, non-trained health professionals and other health professionals without nursing background, and student nurses on clinical attachment during the period of study in the district. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants from the communities. A standard statistical formula was used to arrive at a sample size of 102. Data was collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics involving frequencies and percentages were used in representing data. Responses on other items were cross-tabulated. The statistical tool that was used for analyzing the data was by STATA version 12.Results: Findings showed that 67.7% (69/102) of the nurses were aware of the causes of epilepsy, 59.8% have low level of knowledge on the disease. Though 82.4% of the nurses suspect people with epilepsy to have mental illness, 70.6% of the nurses had positive attitude towards epilepsy. However, 52.9% exhibited poor practices towards the disease. The socio-demographic characteristics of religion (Muslim) (p=0.017), area of specialty (RMN) (p=0.045) as well as close family relationship with epilepsy (p=0.001) were significantly associated with knowledge on epilepsy. Factors that were found to influence attitude towards epilepsy were sex (Female) (p=0.037), religion (Muslim) (p=0.012) and specialty area (RMN) (p=0.054). The area of specialty statistically influences their practices on epilepsy (p=0.001). There was no statistically significant association between knowledge on epilepsy and practice (p=0.134). However, attitude significantly related to practices on epilepsy (p=0.008) and indicated that negative attitude was more likely to be associated with poor practice.Conclusion: Nurses at the Asutifi North District tended to have low knowledge, positive attitude and poor practices on epilepsy.Recommendation: The Ghana Health Service in collaboration with the Ministry of Health should run intermediary workshops, at least every six months, to train nurses in epilepsy diagnoses to reduce the treatment gap. The health directorate should raise awareness and educate the communities on epilepsy to reduce stigma. Enhancing nursing education and training on epilepsy by the Ministry of Health and its agencies is imperative to improving health care delivery for people living with the disease.