Neurological Disorders and Imaging Physics, Volume 5: Applications in dyslexia, epilepsy and Parkinson’s by Jasjit S Suri Ayman El-Baz

Author:Jasjit S Suri Ayman El-Baz [Ayman El-Baz, Jasjit S Suri]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780750327237
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Published: 2020-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

7.2 Cultural differences in knowledge of epilepsy

Knowledge of health professionals and students about the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy may result in a greater access of these patients to health services, as well as broadening their social and professional opportunities. A recent study on knowledge about epilepsy in students of health under graduation courses carried out in five countries [11] revealed that students still have many misconceptions about the disease. Data do not differ from others’ aforementioned surveys.

As advances in access to information and technologies are more available day after day, many people and health professionals still treat individuals with epilepsy with dated attitudes as occurred at the beginning of the last century [21].

According to the historical survey by Gomes [22] people with epilepsy of ancient Rome were avoided for fear of contamination, and in the middle ages they were persecuted as witches. University students also claim that epilepsy is contagious, even in minor percentages, yet such an assertion is still present, and 42.9% of US students still believed that epilepsy can be considered a symptom of mental illness [11].

Additional data from the study by Souza et al [11], obtained from the authors, indicate that, out of the 102 study participants, only 8% considered themselves to have a good awareness about epilepsy, although about 25% of them had already assisted someone with this condition.

The Epilepsy Knowledge Questionnaire [8] was employed by Souza et al [11] and consists of 55 items (34 to assess knowledge of medical aspects of epilepsy and 21 to evaluate knowledge of social aspects), and in 54 of them, participants must answer ‘true’ or ‘false’ to the statement. There is also a multiple-choice question about the prevalence of the disease.

Regarding the medical aspects of epilepsy, more than 50% of the students participating in the research provided wrong answers to the following questions (correct answers are in brackets):

Epileptic seizures are a temporary lack of oxygen to the brain (False).

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