Date on Paper

8-2022

Document Type

Doctoral Paper

Degree Name

D.N.P.

Department

Nursing

Committee Chair

Galloway, Lynette

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Aleshire, Mollie

Author's Keywords

epilepsy; learning disabilities; child; school nurse; student

Abstract

Abstract

Epilepsy is the most frequent, chronic, neurological condition in childhood, impacting 0.5 to 1% of the population. Documented learning problems associated with childhood epilepsy include memory problems, attention deficits, reading difficulties, and processing speed abnormalities. Epilepsy also impacts psychological health with poor self-esteem, a high incidence of bullying, and poor school performance. The Every Student Succeeds Act identifies the school nurse as a leader in chronic disease management; advocating for students to receive the resources and support they need to achieve academic success. The large Midwestern school system, studied in this capstone project, has 804 known students with epilepsy. The intervention of this project was an educational program for school nurses about epilepsy and its impact on both learning and self-esteem. The long-term goal would be to identify students not achieving their optimal level of academic success, due to their epilepsy, and implement appropriate interventions. Dr. Wodrich’s Epilepsy Knowledge Test was used to assess gain in overall epilepsy knowledge after a teaching intervention with school nurses. Demographic data was gathered to assess for associations between demographic data and epilepsy knowledge. Descriptive statistics and a paired t-test were used for data analysis. Results showed an overall increase in knowledge between the pretest (M= 17.8, SD 2.6) to post-test (M = 20.4, SD 3.1), t (5.8), p

Keywords: epilepsy, learning disabilities, child, school nurse, student

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