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

Abstract

BACKGROUNDAim of this study is to assess and compare knowledge, attitude and practice amongst nursing students and MBBS students in a tertiary care centre. MATERIALS AND METHODSAll participants completed the self-administered questionnaire after signing the consent to participate in the study. A questionnaire was designed to test the knowledge on aetiology and treatment, attitude in dealing with persons with epilepsy and familiarity with various forms of treatment and management. Possible difference in answers were analysed amongst nursing and MBBS students. RESULTSMajority of students with both groups had heard about epilepsy. Around 40% of MBBS students in comparison to nursing students approx. 27% believed that epilepsy is a mental illness. Around 76% of nursing students in comparison to MBBS students approx. 50% believed that epilepsy creates hindrance in normal life. Majority of individuals think that epilepsy is curable. More than 75% of participants in both groups had opinion that epilepsy can be treated with allopathic medicine. CONCLUSIONLots of superstition and misbelief exists amongst health care providers. Present study also depicts the same. BACKGROUND Epilepsy is one of the commonest neurological disorders with marked sociocultural stigma. 1 Epilepsy afflicts 50 million people all over the world, almost 80% of whom belong to developing countries and nearly three fourths of these patients do not receive the appropriate treatment. 2 Further studies have reported the global incidence of epilepsy to be generally between 5 to 10 cases per 1000 people. The all inclusive rate includes the incidence of 50 people per 100,000 persons and these incidences are multifactorial that vary according to the seizure types, seizure presentation and antiepileptic drugs administered. 3 It is estimated that there are more than 10 million persons with epilepsy in India. Its prevalence is about 1% in our population. 4 The prevalence is higher in the rural (1.9%) compared to urban population (0.6%). 5,6 In developing countries like India, lots of Financial or Other, Competing Interest: None. Submission 03-09-2016, Peer Review 01-10-2016, Acceptance 07-10-2016, Published 07-12-2016. Corresponding Author: Dr. Rajendra Kumar Sureka, #47, Sanjay Marg, Hathroi Scheme, Jaipur, Rajasthan. E-mail: rsureka@rediffmail.com DOI: 10.14260/jemds/2016/1622 superstitions, discriminations, and stigmata are associated with this disease. Students in a medical fraternity would be one of the primary sources of information as doctors in the future and thus it is important that these future health care professionals be well informed about epilepsy and take an appropriate attitude towards the disease. Thus, the study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and attitude on epilepsy amongst nursing students (GNM and B.Sc) and MBBS students (first year and final year) with the aim to assess the level of knowledge and attitudes on epilepsy which may help in planning awareness programme for them.

Perceptions of the determinants of mental health literacy among Vietnamese adolescents

“…The results of previous studies revealed that the majority of Canadians favor psychological explanations for mental health issues, whereas the majority of nursing staff in the United States and Nepal (Shyangwa, Singh, & Khandelwal, 2003) and members of the general public (Link, Phelan, Bresnahan, Stueve, & Pescosolido, 1999) attributed mental problems to genetic and biological factors. According to previous research by Aggarwal, Kherada, Gocher, and Sohu (2016); Joshi, Mahmood, Bamel, Agarwal, and Shaifali (2012) and Sureka, Saxena, Rijhwani, Chaturvedi, and Charan (2016), young individuals hold the belief that mental illness is attributable to supernatural or genetic factors. Physical and sexual abuse, biological factors, and stress were identified in a single study conducted in Delhi as potential causes of mental illness among adolescents (Aggarwal et al, 2016).…”