Aspects socioculturels de l’épilepsie dans une communauté rurale au nord Bénin en 2011

Abstract

Despite the development of knowledge in diagnosis and therapeutic of epilepsy it remains to be cause of rejection and stigma. We aimed to study the knowledge, attitude and practice toward epilepsy and the stigma in a rural community. The cross-sectional study was carried out from 1st to 31st March 2011 in a rural community (Tourou) at Parakou in the northern Benin. It was a door-to-door survey and included 1 031 adults older than 15 years. The diagnosis of epilepsy was based on International League Against Epilepsy. The specific questionnaire was used and comprised 16 items which explored knowledge, attitude and practice toward epilepsy. Another questionnaire was developed to study stigma among epileptics. The associated factors to the misconception toward epilepsy have been studied. All adults have heard about epilepsy and knew the generalized tonic-clonic form of epilepsy and knew someone with epilepsy. Hereditary (98%) and witchcraft (97.9%) and social problems (65.9%) were mentioned as the most cause of epilepsy. Epilepsy was cited as contagious disease by 90.6% of respondents and the associated factors were the sex (p=0.005) and occupational status (0.024). The saliva (98.1%) and witness of the place of seizure (97.8%) were the frequently mentioned modes of transmission. 65% of all mentioned that epileptics can not get marriage and the main associated factors to this belief were the advanced age (p=0.008) and occupational status (0.004). 64.4% believed that children with epilepsy shouldn't be attend to school, age (0.004), ethnicity (0.047) and occupational status were the associated factors with this misconception. Despite 99.4% considered epilepsy as treatable disease only 12.7% would have referred epileptics to the hospital. All the seven epileptics considered themselves as victims of stigma and rejected by their family and the community. The misconceptions associated to the epilepsy can explain the stigma and the therapeutic gap in this rural community.

Sociocultural representations of epilepsy in the Central African Republic: A door-to-door survey

“…African population still believe that epilepsy is a contagious disease, as we showed in our study. Similar results have been reported in Benin [25], Burkina Faso [26] and Burundi [27]. We also found comparable representations of the relation between epilepsy and alcohol [25] or genetic predisposition [28].…”

“…Similar results have been reported in Benin [25], Burkina Faso [26] and Burundi [27]. We also found comparable representations of the relation between epilepsy and alcohol [25] or genetic predisposition [28]. A study in urban areas of the CAR found that 28.8% believed that epilepsy was due to bad luck, and 45.0% to an evil spirit [4,29].…”

“…Another study in CAR described that 54% of PWE believed that the disease was contagious, 55.6% that it was incurable, and 20.9% that it was due occult or supernatural causes [30]. A study in Benin found that witchcraft was mentioned as the most frequent cause of epilepsy in rural communities [25]. Almost half of PWE in sub-Saharan Africa believed on the supernatural origin of their epilepsy, as it was shown in a study in Togo (53.5%) and Benin (44.3%) [8].…”

Public knowledge awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in Al-Kharj Governorate Saudi Arabia

“…[ 13 14 ] Strictly speaking, they usually have difficulty in employment, education, socialization, and reproductive life. [ 14 15 16 17 ]…”

Epilepsy: Knowledge and Attitudes of Primary School Teachers in the City of Bouake/Ivory Coast

“…Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder with multiple and often curable causes [1]. Epilepsy affects approximately 50 million people worldwide making it the most common neurological disorder globally [2].…”