Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards epilepsy among religious cleric and traditional healers of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Understanding clerics and healers' knowledge, attitude, and practice towards epilepsy are crucial to identify the mechanisms of epilepsy stigma in Ethiopia. The objective of this study is to characterize the social and demographic determinants of knowledge, attitude, and practices of clerics and healers towards people with epilepsy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: A total of 440 clerics and healers were interviewed by trained data collectors using a pretested structured questionnaire. The count sum of outcome variables was grouped into "biological and cultural" knowledge attitude and practice scores. Ordinal regression analysis was performed for each outcome variable against socio-demographic variables of interest. Results: The percentage of responses matching cultural causes (58%) surpassed biological causes. The most frequently mentioned cultural cause was an evil spirit (22.5%). While the most frequently mentioned biological cause was a head injury (12%). Consistent with the above findings, cultural treatment responses (77%) exceeded biological treatment responses. The most commonly referred cultural treatment response was Church healing session (12%). The type of faith followed by the study participants positively correlated with higher cultural knowledge, attitude, and practice score. Conclusions: Clerics and traditional healers in Ethiopia have a partiality to the cultural epilepsy explanation model. Cultural metaphors attached to an evil spirit, curse of God, and witchcraft have formed and fostered existing 'epilepsy societal norms' in Ethiopia. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of epilepsy stigma and treatment gap. Besides, it provided direction to design and implement epilepsy stigma intervention programs in Ethiopia.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices among caregivers of children with epilepsy in outpatient pediatric neurology clinic: a cross-sectional study at Yekatit 12 Hospital Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“…Ethiopian children with epilepsy face stigma in many settings, including schools and churches, and negative attitudes and misconceptions, which are widely prevalent in the general population, have also been shown to be prevalent among important gures in their lives, such as classmates, teachers, religious clerics, and, as established in the present study, their own caregivers (15,19,20). Even among the presently studied caregivers, more than half (56.7%) believe that children with epilepsy cannot be intelligent, and 39.1% say that children with epilepsy should not attend school.…”

<p>Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Toward Prevention and Early Detection of COVID-19 and Associated Factors Among Religious Clerics and Traditional Healers in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia: A Community-Based Study</p>

“…Religious clerics and THs were therefore allowed to self-identify when they had both clerical and healing functions. 10 Therefore, THs with clerical function were categorized as dual Traditional healers, THs without clerical functions were categorized as sole traditional healers, and clerics without traditional healing function were categorized as sole clerics.…”

Epilepsy Treatment Outcome and Its Predictors Among Children Who Had Chronic Follow Up at Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital

“… 23–25 In Ethiopia, the lack of acceptance of modern antiepileptic drugs and negative medication beliefs highly influenced patients and the community, as they perceived epilepsy to be treated by traditional healers and spiritual holy water, which may push them to not take the medicine. 3 , 21 , 26–28 …”

“…[23][24][25] In Ethiopia, the lack of acceptance of modern antiepileptic drugs and negative medication beliefs highly influenced patients and the community, as they perceived epilepsy to be treated by traditional healers and spiritual holy water, which may push them to not take the medicine. 3,21,[26][27][28] Although various studies have been conducted in different parts of the world, studies regarding treatment outcomes among pediatric patients with epilepsy in Ethiopia are scarce, especially in the study region. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess treatment outcomes and related factors among pediatric patients with epilepsy who were followed-up at Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northeast Ethiopia, as this hospital serves millions of people who come from South Wollo, North Wollo, Oromia special zones and some parts of the Afar region.…”