Investigation of Behaviors of the Epilepsy Patients' Relatives During Seizure and its Association with Their Knowledge Regarding Epilepsy

Objectives: Relatives of epilepsy patients tend to intervene their patients during epileptic seizure with an intention to help them. Usually not based on a medical knowledge, these behaviors may harm the patient rather than providing benefit. This study aimed to investigate interventional behaviors to the seizure to build a base for informing epilepsy patients and their relatives. Methods: In this study, a questionnaire prepared by us was applied to the participants who met the inclusion criteria. Results: A total of 23 subjects, consisting of 20 females and three males, participated to the survey. Mean age of the participants was 42. There were four patients who thought the event to be epilepsy. The percentage of participants who declared that they observed a seizure before was 47.8%. When the interventions were grouped, it found that 52.2% of participants intervened to the surrounding, while 47.8% intervened to the patient. About half of the participants said "epilepsy is a brain disorder." No participants associated epilepsy with magic or supernatural power. Conclusion: As our study based on questionnaire about witnessing a seizure, we sought answers to the question of "what you did during the seizure." Approximately half of the relatives of the patients (47.8%) chose to intervene in their patients; the conclusion that it is important to inform the society becomes meaningful when considering that the interventions may have the potential risk to their patients.