Awareness and attitudes on epilepsy among undergraduate health care students in Southern Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the awareness on epilepsy among undergraduate health care students in a private university. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire about epilepsy was applied to 417 students at Universidade de Caxias do Sul. The answers were analyzed in two groups: group 1, medical and nursing students; group 2, psychology, physiotherapy and nutrition students. RESULTS: Most of the students were familiar with the disease. Although many of them recognize brain disease as a cause of seizure, it was observed that a quarter of them linked epilepsy with mental disease. Besides, a relevant portion of the sample presents mistaken attitudes on seizure management. CONCLUSION: There is lack of information on epilepsy among these students. The students and the health care professionals are important vectors of information. Therefore, further discussion on this subject is necessary in health care training to demystify some aspects concerning the disease.

Awareness and Knowledge on Epilepsy Among Undergraduate Medical Students in Pakistan

“…2.22% of medical students in this study consider it a self limiting disease in comparison to a study in Brazil where 1% of the students consider it as a self limiting disease [16].…”

“…Undergraduates being future medical practitioners must be evaluated at an early stage of their career regarding this aspect. When medical undergraduates were asked about the treatment of epilepsy, about 56.66% medical students responded that epilepsy is treated by medications, a similar study in Brazil shows that 93% of medical students are aware that epilepsy requires treatment by allopathic medications [16], this comparison shows that the medical undergraduates in this study group lack essential information concerning the drug treatment for epilepsy, and must be trained accordingly.…”

“…Population based surveys show that knowledge of epilepsy is generally superior among people with higher socioeconomic status and better educated individuals (university and grad school students). It has also been evaluated through a variety of studies that, in comparison, health care students of various countries in the world (Brazil, India, Italy, Canada) have more knowledge of epilepsy [12,13,14,15,16]. In our study we interviewed, 90 males & 180 females of a public sector medical college, in which 85.1% students consider epilepsy as a neurological disease as compared to a study performed on undergraduate medical students of Brazil, where 93.4% consider epilepsy as a brain disease [16], and an Indian study showed students who consider epilepsy as a neurological disease by 93.1% [11].…”

“…It has also been evaluated through a variety of studies that, in comparison, health care students of various countries in the world (Brazil, India, Italy, Canada) have more knowledge of epilepsy [12,13,14,15,16]. In our study we interviewed, 90 males & 180 females of a public sector medical college, in which 85.1% students consider epilepsy as a neurological disease as compared to a study performed on undergraduate medical students of Brazil, where 93.4% consider epilepsy as a brain disease [16], and an Indian study showed students who consider epilepsy as a neurological disease by 93.1% [11]. Although many students recognize brain disease as a cause of seizure, in an Italian study, 45% of the medical students perceived epilepsy as psychiatric illness, in a Malaysian study 39.7% of the undergraduate students regarded epilepsy as a mental illness, where as in our study this value is 3.7% [15].…”

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Epilepsy Among Undergraduate Medical and Nursing Students in Rajasthan

“…13 The mistaken belief of putting shoe/onion on an epileptic person's face, placing bunch of keys in hands or other practices has been observed in more than 16% of students (Group A). In a study by Falavinga A et al, 14 these mistaken ideas were observed in 38.8% of the sample. Another Brazilian study 11 demonstrated that 71% of the first year students of health care related disciplines and 32% of the last year students follow these practices.…”