Public awareness and attitudes towards epilepsy in the United Arab Emirates (original) (raw)
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Epilepsy & Behavior, 2016
Introduction: Epilepsy accounts for 0.5% of the global burden of disease, with more than 50 million people affected worldwide; 80% of them are in developing regions. People with epilepsy and their families can suffer from stigma and discrimination in many parts of the world. Although this disorder is common in Saudi Arabia, with a prevalence of 6.54 per 1000, no study of epilepsy awareness, knowledge, and attitudes has been reported from the Aseer region. Methods: The study was conducted using a validated self-administered questionnaire to assess awareness, knowledge, and attitudes toward epilepsy and the sociodemographic data of the participants. Results: In the total sample of 1044 (mean age: 28 ± 9 years; 53.2% were males; from different educational and social levels), almost all had heard about epilepsy (96.1%), and the majority knew someone with epilepsy (60.7%). In spite of that, knowledge about the etiology and nature of epilepsy was lacking, as 40% of participants thought it was a blood disorder, 21.2% believed it was contagious, and nearly one-third viewed it as due to a mental disorder and emotional stress. Regarding public attitudes toward people with epilepsy, 19.1% would not work with them, 17% would not allow having their child mingle with a child with epilepsy at school, and more than half would not marry a person with epilepsy. Moreover, the study showed inappropriate responses when dealing with someone with a seizure; they would force some medicine down the patient's throat (49.3%), use herbal medicine (68.9%), ask a spiritual healer (31.8%), or even think it is untreatable (35.6%). Conclusion: The level of epilepsy awareness in the Aseer region's population is relatively poor and needs improvement.
Level of awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in Qassim, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study
Epilepsy & Behavior, 2019
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 30 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.
Public awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in Saudi Arabia is improving
Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), 2014
To examine public awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. A focused 10-item questionnaire was designed to survey public awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy. Personal interviews were conducted randomly by one author in preselected public places in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during March and April 2011. Seven hundred and forty-nine interviews were completed during the study period. Most participants (77.4%) had prior knowledge of epilepsy, and 52% believed that epilepsy is an organic disease. This correlated with their educational level, as those with higher levels of education were more likely to link epilepsy to organic causes (p=0.008). However, 15% also linked epilepsy to evil spirit possession, and up to 37% preferred spiritual rituals and religious healing to medical treatments. Although most respondents (61%) would accept an epileptic patient in a regular job, 71% (particularly males) reported reservations in marrying someone with epil...
Public knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy in Kuwait
Epilepsia, 2008
and †Ministry of Health, Kuwait SUMMARY Purpose: The study was conducted to determine the familiarity with, knowledge of, misunderstandings, and attitudes toward epilepsy among the Kuwaiti population. Methods: A pretested questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 784 Kuwaiti individuals, selected from five governorates in Kuwait using a multistage stratified clustered sampling. Results: Seven hundred fifty-five subjects were interviewed, and 97.6% reported their awareness about epilepsy. Of these, 51.8% knew someone who had epilepsy, 56.4% had witnessed an epileptic seizure, 45.9% believed that epilepsy is a hereditary disease, 60.4% reported that "all epileptic fits manifest symptoms of generalized tonic-clonic seizure," 88.3% indicated that putting an object into the patient's mouth to prevent tongue biting during a seizure is appropriate, and 57.1% stated that drug therapy was the only treatment avail-able for epilepsy. Objections to shake hands with, working with, marrying, and employing epileptic patients were reported by 16.0%, 24.8%, 71.6%, and 45.2%, respectively. Childbirth by epileptic women and allowing children to play with an epileptic child were opposed by 56.3% and 27.7%, respectively. A total of 370 (50.2%) agreed that epilepsy is equivalent to psychiatric disorder. Discussion: The present findings have demonstrated that epilepsy is a well-known disease in Kuwait, and that negative attitudes toward epilepsy do prevail in Kuwait. The majority of the negative attitudes were significantly associated with the misunderstanding of epilepsy. Continuing effective educational interventions would be needed in order to improve the appropriate understanding of epilepsy, and to ameliorate the social discrimination and misconceptions against epileptic patients.
Public knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy in Majmaah
Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 2016
Objectives: Epilepsy is very common in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, occurring in 6.54 out of every 1000 individuals. The current study was conducted to determine the level of public awareness of and attitudes toward epilepsy in the city of Majmaah, Saudi Arabia. Subjects and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Majmaah, Saudi Arabia. The study population included respondents derived from preselected public places in the city. Stratified random sampling was used, and the sample size was made up of 706 individuals. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection from respondents after receiving their verbal consent. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 2.0. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Majmaah University. Results: The results showed that 575 (81.4%) of the respondents had heard or read about epilepsy. Almost 50% of the respondents knew someone who had epilepsy, and 393 (55.7%) had witnessed what they believed to be a seizure. Resu...
Epilepsy & Behavior Reports, 2021
The association of epilepsy with spirits possession is common in Saudi community, stigmatizing people with epilepsy for generations. Bridging the gap in university students' knowledge and improving their attitude is key to alleviating this stigma. Methods: We created a self-administered questionnaire that examined university students' knowledge of and attitudes toward epilepsy. We obtained epilepsy knowledge scores and examined their associations with gender and college specialties. Results: Of the 511 students, 51.6% had intermediate knowledge, while 25.2% and 23.2% had high and low knowledge, respectively. Students from health colleges had higher scores than the others. They significantly differentiated epilepsy as a brain disorder (65.5%), identified convulsions as a sign of epilepsy (92.2%), and linked epilepsy to head trauma (25%), genetic causes (22.7%), and congenital malformations (9.4%). Few respondents linked epilepsy to evil spirits (15.7%) and mental disorders (19.9%), but 46% preferred spiritual treatment. The respondents' attitudes were negative toward marriage (78%), employment (76%), and interactions of children with those with epilepsy (45.9%). Women were more tolerant than men regarding social relationships. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that knowledge regarding epilepsy improved compared with earlier surveys in Saudi Arabia and Arab countries; however, the ''spiritual" and ''mental disorder" misconceptions warrant future interventions.
Knowledge of, perceptions of, and attitudes toward epilepsy among university students in Kuwait
Epilepsy & Behavior, 2009
The aim of this study was to explore, using a self-administered questionnaire, university students’ knowledge of, perceptions of, and attitudes toward epilepsy. Approximately 1.7% considered epilepsy a contagious disease, and 10.5%, a form of insanity. About 25 and 34% of students thought that epilepsy is caused by an evil spirit and the evil eye, respectively, and 17.4% thought epilepsy is punishment from God. About 8% believed patients with epilepsy should not marry, and 12.5% thought they should not have children. Similarly, 11.7% thought patients with epilepsy cannot think or judge like people without epilepsy, and 26.2% would not employ someone with epilepsy in a clerical job. Approximately 56% objected to marrying someone with epilepsy, and 12.5% would not allow their child to play with a child with epilepsy. In conclusion, university students in Kuwait have a vague knowledge of the causes of epilepsy. Misconceptions about and negative attitudes toward epilepsy are unexpectedly high among these university students.
Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), 2008
To investigate the present familiarity, knowledge, and attitudes of Jordanians towards epilepsy. This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted over a 6-month period, from April 2006 to October 2006 at the family clinic of Jordan University Hospital, Amman, Jordan. A face-to-face questionnaire interview was conducted with 600 non-epileptic adults who visited the clinic during the study period. The sample matched the overall Jordanian population for literacy rate, however, included a higher proportion of females, and consequently findings may be taken as being only moderately representative of the Jordanian population. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents had heard about epilepsy, 47.3% knew someone with epilepsy, and 39.7% had witnessed a seizure. The major source of knowledge was word of mouth; knowledge about causes and treatment were far below the results reported in western countries. In addition, negative attitudes were present with regard to marriage and employment of e...
Awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy among medical students and interns in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Primary Health Care Research & Development
Background: Epilepsy is a common neurological condition. It affects around 1% of the global population. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. An online questionnaire was distributed to medical students in their clinical and preclinical years and interns at Riyadh’s four public universities. Then a comparison was made to see whether attending more courses in medical school would influence the students’ knowledge and attitudes. Results: In the present study, 95% of medical students had heard about epilepsy or convulsive seizures (a significantly larger proportion of clinical students had heard about epilepsy than preclinical students (99.0% versus 92%, P-value = 0.000)). Furthermore, 34.0% believed that epilepsy could be treated. Moreover, 79.1% of those polled claimed that brain disease originated from epilepsy, followed by genetic factors (64.1%) and convulsions (92.3%) as the most common symp...
Epilepsy research, 2018
Epilepsy is a major public health problem worldwide. There are many misconceptions about people's knowledge and attitudes about epilepsy, which influence people's behavior towards patients with epilepsy. We conducted a cross-sectional study in Sohag University, a public Egyptian University, in Upper Egypt. We used an Arabic language designed questionnaire to assess people's knowledge about epilepsy and their attitudes towards patients with epilepsy. We included a total of 920 students in the study. 12.4% of study respondents had never heard of or read about epilepsy. Moreover, there was much misunderstanding about the etiology of epilepsy, as 68.2% of epileptic and 74.5% of nonepileptic respondents believe epilepsy is caused by evil spirits and evil eyes or due to psychiatric disorders. There were also many people who held negative attitudes towards patients with epilepsy in regards to major life milestones such as marriage and having children. Among nonepileptics, 54.5%...