Positive Trends of Public Attitudes Toward Epilepsy after Public Education Campaign Among Rural Korean Residents

Abstract

To assess trends of public attitudes toward epilepsy in Korea, two surveys were performed in the same village using a common questionnaire before and after the schedule of public education on epilepsy. Cross-sectional studies were conducted by means of a door-to-door interview, in which all residents over 19 yr of age living in the survey area were targeted. Vehicles for the educational campaign took the form of lectures and small group discussions. The understanding of epilepsy among Korean respondents appeared to be not only based more on supernatural or superstitious thinking, but was also less comparable to that of other studies. The attitudes toward epilepsy also were far more negative in Korean rural areas than in other countries. The false belief that "epilepsy can not be treated" was the factor that contributed most to negative attitudes. Although a positive trend was obvious not only in understanding the cause of epilepsy but also in attitudes toward epilepsy, the majority of respondents still remain unchanged in their misunderstanding of and negative attitudes toward epilepsy. To ameliorate the social stigma against epilepsy in Korea, continuous and repetitive educational efforts as well as the sympathy of the lay societies regarding epilepsy would be needed.

Awareness, attitudes and perceptions on epilepsy in Southern Brazil

“…It has been clearly observed that the level of education infl uences the answers about the disease and leads to less pejorative attitudes to persons with epilepsy, corroborating with other researches designed for similar purposes 4,[6][7][8][9][10][11][13][14][15] . It is inferred that populations with a lower level of education and a lower income probably also have less access to information concerning epilepsy and this contributes to maintaining erroneous concepts about the disease.…”

“…Questionnaires that evaluate the perception of epilepsy in many different social segments have been used by a great number of authors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . Although many limitations have been observed such as understanding the questions, diffi culty in achieving the right answer since there is a broad range of epilepsies, the tendency is to not expose negative positions on the subject and the non-validation of the instrument 23 .…”

“…Studies that qualify notions about epilepsy in society demonstrate that despite the improvement in attitudes and knowledge about this disorder in some countries 1,9,13 , children and adults are still discriminated by mistaken beliefs, promoting prejudicial social attitudes towards them 17 . Brazilian publications conclude that people do not have a satisfactory understanding of epilepsy, indicating that the information acquired is superfi cial and that it is necessary to clarify people concerning this issue at all socioeconomic levels 7,15,[19][20][21][22] .…”

Awareness and Knowledge on Epilepsy Among Undergraduate Medical Students in Pakistan

“…Population based surveys show that knowledge of epilepsy is generally superior among people with higher socioeconomic status and better educated individuals (university and grad school students). It has also been evaluated through a variety of studies that, in comparison, health care students of various countries in the world (Brazil, India, Italy, Canada) have more knowledge of epilepsy [12,13,14,15,16]. In our study we interviewed, 90 males & 180 females of a public sector medical college, in which 85.1% students consider epilepsy as a neurological disease as compared to a study performed on undergraduate medical students of Brazil, where 93.4% consider epilepsy as a brain disease [16], and an Indian study showed students who consider epilepsy as a neurological disease by 93.1% [11].…”

Stigma scale of epilepsy: the perception of epilepsy stigma in different cities in Brazil

“…This may affect quality of life and psycho-social adjustment of people with epilepsy [1][2][3][4] . Misinformation and negative attitudes towards epilepsy are common over the world and contribute to discrimination against people with epilepsy 5,6 . These psycho-social difficulties are often considered more stressful and harmful than seizures themselves [7][8][9][10] .…”