Awareness, attitude, and understanding toward epilepsy among workers in a State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri, Northeastern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy is a common presentation at clinics in Psychiatric Hospitals, Teaching Hospitals, and general practice. In developing countries and Africa especially, awareness, attitude, and understanding are generally poor. People still believe in spirits as the cause of epilepsy. Objectives: The objectives were to assess the awareness; attitude and knowledge of Hospital workers in general practice concerning epilepsy. Methodology: The respondents were workers of all cadres who were working at a State Specialist Hospital and the study used a survey method proposed by Caveness and Gallup, with modifications and adaptations on the self-administered questionnaire. Results: One hundred and forty-four staffs of State Specialist Hospital completed the questionnaire containing items addressing demographics, awareness, attitude, and knowledge. Of these respondents, 89 were males and 55 were females. The mean age was 34.34 years. 96.5% heard of the disease, 77.8% knew someone with the disease, 64.6% will not object to their children playing with someone with epilepsy and 37.5% will not allow a relative to marry someone with epilepsy. Fifty-five percent (55%) of the respondents said; they will not employ such patients, and that patients with epilepsy should not be employed with others. Knowledge towards epilepsy was good, where 71.5% felt it was caused by a brain disorder. Conclusion: We found out that awareness and knowledge of epilepsy among Hospital staff were generally good. However, the attitude of healthcare workers had reservations towards patients with epilepsy (PWE) either working for them or working with other people. This attitude arose from deeply ingrained cultural misconceptions acquired over time. Thus, there is a need for consistent hospital staff education, aimed at allaying fears, mistrust as well as to lessen the stigma towards epileptics.

Improving community participation in clinical trials in Ghana; factors to consider

“…This study aimed at improving community participation in clinical trials in Ghana by evaluating the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards participation in clinical trials among respondents in the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly. There were more males than females in this study which compares with other similar surveys which all reported more male respondents than females [ 19 , 20 ]. This observation could probably be due to higher uptake of research among males than females.…”

Mortality of traumatic chest injury and its predictors across sub-saharan Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis, 2024

“…Seven articles were subsequently excluded for various reasons: one lacked full-text access [ 18 ], two had unclearly written methods [ 19 , 20 ], and the remaining four had outcomes unrelated to this study [ 21 – 24 ]. Finally, 21 studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis [ 4 , 25 – 44 ] (Fig. 1 ).…”

“…Twenty-one eligible studies included in the meta-analysis were published between 1981 and 2023. Of these 21 published original studies that reported the proportion of mortality, four were conducted in Ethiopia [ 26 , 29 , 39 , 40 ], and the majority of studies (nine) were conducted in Nigeria [ 4 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 33 – 37 ]. The other studies were conducted in Tanzania (three) [ 30 , 31 , 43 ], South Africa (two) [ 41 , 42 ], Cameroon (one) [ 32 ], Senegal (one) [ 44 ], and Sudan (one) [ 38 ].…”

“…The other studies were conducted in Tanzania (three) [ 30 , 31 , 43 ], South Africa (two) [ 41 , 42 ], Cameroon (one) [ 32 ], Senegal (one) [ 44 ], and Sudan (one) [ 38 ]. Most studies were conducted with a cross-sectional design (thirteen) [ 4 , 25 – 27 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 36 , 39 – 42 , 44 ], and the fewest were conducted via prospective cohort studies (eight) [ 28 , 30 , 33 – 35 , 37 , 38 , 43 ]. The sample size of each study ranged between 40 and 442.…”

Prevalence, Pattern, and Management Outcomes of Chest Injury at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre

“…5 Associated injuries play an important role in determining the outcome of a chest injury patient especially when a head injury is associated. 6 The management has several essential elements, such as adequate prehospital care, rapid transport to a specialized center, complex in-hospital care, and rehabilitation. The prehospital phase is vital in determining treatment outcomes appropriately and contributes significantly to reducing morbidity and mortality.…”