RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Motor vehicle collision (MVC) is a major cause of death in children worldwide. Using children car seats will stabilize them during accidents and decrease the morbidity and mortality from MVC dramatically. There is no study in Saudi Arabia about car seat use and relationship between using it and children morbidity and mortality following a car accident. OBJECTIVES: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of children car seats among parents at Unaizah city, KSA, to assess the level of awareness regarding the children car safety system, to determine the parent level of education, socioeconomic status, and other factors affecting their behavior regarding car seats, to determine the prevalence of car seat use among parents in Unaizah city, and to assess the effectiveness of car seat policies on parents' behavior. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTINGS: Public and private pediatric clinics at Unaizah city in Qassim region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted from May to June 2018, among parents with child ≤7 years old. Anyone who could not complete the questionnaire for any reason was excluded from our study. SPSS version 20 has been used to analyze all data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of children car seats among parents at Unaizah city, KSA. SAMPLE SIZE: 350. RESULTS: There were 350 participants who were included in this study of which females were dominant 77.1%. The age range of parents was 25-35 years old. Most of them complied with the seatbelt policy (56.7%). Among these numbers, 130 participants use a seatbelt for security reason while others were to protect from irregularities. More parents do not put baby seat in the car (57.3%) while 57 participants use child seat every time the child rides in the car. CONCLUSION: The overall knowledge, attitude, and practices toward children car safety seat in this study was relatively low. This signifies the need of parents to step up their awareness to safe guard their children while on the road. LIMITATIONS: Small sample size and limited to pediatrics clinics visitors.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: Reports of poor knowledge about epilepsy in different cities of Saudi Arabia have emphasized the need for a similar study of this issue in the Qassim region. Therefore, we aimed to determine the level of awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in the population of Qassim, Saudi Arabia. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Qassim region. A valid pretested questionnaire was distributed among Qassim residents in public places, such as malls, mosques, and parks. The sample size consisted of 3800 people from multiple cities in the Qassim region. The study was approved by the Qassim committee in Qassim University, and verbal consent was obtained from participants. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 2253 males (59.3%) and 1544 females (40.6%). A large number of respondents were between 15 and 30â¯years (59.7%). The data showed that 85.5% of people had heard about epilepsy or read about it and 33% knew a patient with epilepsy while 42.7% had seen or witnessed someone having a seizure. It was also found that 73.2% of parents would allow their child to play with patients with epilepsy, 35.7% would allow their son or daughter to marry a patient with epilepsy, and 74.9% think that patients with epilepsy can be employed in jobs, like other people. CONCLUSION: Insufficient knowledge about epilepsy, which is a very common disorder, has a great and negative impact on people with epilepsy, their families and communities, and the healthcare systems. In our study, we found that good knowledge was associated with being a young adult, male, unmarried, and being a university student.