Knowledge of epilepsy and attitudes towards the condition among three elementary schools students in Ankara

SUMMARYEpilepsy is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. Strausscommented that doctors treating people with chronic illness try to provide not only controlleddisease symptoms but also normalized their life (7 ).Epilepsy is both a medical disorder and a ``social label?? in which the psychosocialaspects frequently cause greater difficulties than the physical symptoms of the disease itself(40). Previously, children?s psychosocial difficulties were attributed primarily to epilepsy-associated biological factors. More recently, social factors including stigmatization, exclusionfrom social activities, and prejudice are also felt to influence social adjustment (17,8,68).Much of childhood is spent at home and school. When we assess the quality of life inchildren with epilepsy, we need to consider opinions of their teachers, family and friends.In this study, questionnaires were applied to 851 children in grades 6, 7 and 8 fromthree elementary schools in Ankara. The questionnaire composes of 25 questions whichquantified the knowledge, attitude and practice toward epilepsy. In our study, approximatelyhalf of the students had heard about epilepsy and got higher points than the others. Studentswhose mother?s jobs are associated with health or in government got higher points. Like this,students whose father?s jobs are related to health or in government got higher points. Therewas a very small but statistically significant positively relation between students? age andpoints of first test (p<0, 05). There was a very small but statistically significant negativelyrelation between numbers of siblings and points of first test (p<0, 05). Students trained forepilepsy got statistically significant higher points than before (p<0, 05).As a result of this study, knowledge of epilepsy is higher in students heard aboutepilepsy and training can be improving this knowledge. There is need for children educationabout epilepsy because of they become tomorrow?s population. With the increased levels ofspecific education among general population, a more comprehensive understanding may bereflected in further improvement in attitudes.