Abstracts

Rationale: Parent's understanding, support, and cooperation are essential for a successful pediatric electroencephalogram (EEG). We aim to study parent's perceptions and knowledge of the EEG procedure before the study and examine their impressions afterward. Methods: Consecutive parents of children coming for outpatient EEG were included prospectively. A 21-item questionnaire was designed to examine their demographics, knowledge, cooperation, and experience during the EEG procedure.Results: One hundred questionnaires were completed during the study period. Only 24% of the families reported receiving prior information about the EEG procedure and only 16% felt very well informed. Up to 11% of the parents had misconceptions about the EEG procedure including that it involves needles, electrical shocks, pain, or intravenous medications. After the EEG procedure, 71% of parents found their experience better or much better than they expected. Those who were informed were more likely to have an as expected experience (34% vs. 9%, p=0.004). The level of EEG information did not correlate with the parent's or child's behavior during the procedure.Conclusions: Most parents are not well informed about the EEG procedure, which affects their expectation and EEG experience. Some parents have significant apprehensions and misconceptions, however, most found the overall EEG experience better that they expected.