title: The interactive animated epilepsy education programme (IAEEP): how feasible, acceptable and practical is the technology to children?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Being well-informed and knowledgeable about their illnesses would be a great advantage to children with epilepsy (CWE). Subsequently, an effective education programme which could secure interest and simultaneously improve their awareness, knowledge and attitudes (AKA) is essential in enhancing well-being and health outcomes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the development of a new interactive animated epilepsy education programme (IAEEP) for children and to assess its feasibility, acceptability and practicality.
  
  
  METHODS
  The IAEEP was developed by an interdisciplinary group of neurologist, paediatrician, pharmacist, biomedical scientist and educators which was based on two established epilepsy education programmes: the educational programme for patients with epilepsy and their relatives (MOSES) and the modular educational program for children with epilepsy and their parents (FAMOSES). CWE from paediatric department of three general hospitals in Terengganu were initially introduced to the IAEEP and were requested to complete an evaluation form assessing its feasibility, acceptability and practicality. Descriptive statistics were employed for data analyses (SPSS 20.0).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixteen CWE (median age=13.0; male=56.2%; Malay=81.2%; secondary school=56.2%) and their corresponding parents were recruited. Each CWE owned at least a computer/notebook/tablet (100%). The cost of distribution of IAEEP (in compact disc form) among CWE was estimated at about MYR 17.99/USD 5.90 per CWE. The average time required to interact with the programme was 22.8 minutes (SD=3.3, range 18-28 minutes). The programme was 100% acceptable and received full support from both CWE and their parents (100%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The favourable findings from this study add to the growing evidence suggesting that investment in interactive and animated education programme would be both feasible, well-received by patients and could be a potentially valuable approach to increase access and effectiveness of epilepsy care especially among CWE.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Development and Quality of Life, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Pei Lin
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Lua
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Development and Quality of Life, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Widiasmoro Selamat
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Neni
authors.affiliation: Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jimmy Kok Foo
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zariah
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abd Aziz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008838:Microcomputers; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012984:Software
keywords: Interactive animated epilepsy education programme; acceptability; children; feasibility; practicality