Survey of public awareness, attitudes, and understanding toward epilepsy in Nhan Chinh, Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2003

Multiple impacts of epilepsy and contributing factors: Findings from an ethnographic study in Vietnam

“…This finding is also consistent with previous findings ([e.g. 24,28,29]) such that although people believed that epilepsy should be treated with traditional medicine, when an actual health problem occurs people prefer taking western medicine, finding western-trained physicians better at diagnosing illnesses [29]. Even in Western societies it is not unusual to apply - especially among ethnic minority groups - alternative-traditional treatment methods as well as orthodox medicines [28,30–34].…”

“…Earlier quantitative studies conducted in Vietnam indicate low levels of understanding about causes and treatment of epilepsy, and prevailing negative attitudes [24,25]. To appreciate more fully the contextually driven meaning of such responses, the present investigation employs an ethnographic approach to facilitate the exploration of local ontologies of epilepsy, lay beliefs and experiences of people with epilepsy and their family members in treatment of epilepsy, impact of epilepsy, attitudes toward epilepsy and attitudes toward disclosure of epilepsy.…”

A five-year follow‐up study of the general public awareness and perception of epilepsy in Croatia

“…Since persons with more negative attitudes toward epilepsy (as a type of insanity) and possible life success of a child with epilepsy held significantly more negative views toward a child with epilepsy, while experiential factors (knowing a person with epilepsy, witnessing an event) did not reach a statistical significance, this outcome could be a consequence of common or similar origin of all three views. The USA studies revealed an improvement from 24% (1949) to 6% (1979) [10], Czech from 29% (1981) to 13% (1987) [22], German from 31% (1967) to 15% (1995) [39], Hungarian from 19% (1994) to 16.5% (2000) [23], while opposite trends were reported in Italy from 11% (1983) to 34% (1985) [39] and in Vietnam from 18.7% in 2003 [31] to 36.3% in 2005 [33].…”

“…Fear of seizures was favored by those 36-45 years old and injuries and rejection by others by those 26-35 years of age. Young participants (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35) selected limited activities least frequently, and those 36-45 years old most frequently. Those with primary school level of education favored seizures, those with secondary school level injuries and those with a university degree the fear of seizures.…”

“…A similar proportion of the participants (4/5) could list at least one symptom of epilepsy in 2004 [14] and 2009, with equally diverse descriptors and overall results impractical for comparisons with other studies that vary considerably and by default have nominally "different" results [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Importantly, the published studies seem to support a widely held misconception that "the majority of persons with epilepsy shake," while it is established that convulsions represent the minority of epileptic seizures [34][35][36][37].…”