engleski

Knowledge and attitudes of Croatian students towards epilepsy: cross sectional comparison study

Background information: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. It carries a significant burden and adversely affects the quality of life of the patients. Furthermore, patients with epilepsy face stigmatisation due to poor knowledge and misconceptions about the disorder. Negative attitudes towards affected could lead to rejection and devaluation by the society which has negative impact on their mental health and is associated with higher morbidity and mortality. Educating the general population could lead to more positive attitudes towards the patients and have beneficial effects on their psychosocial status. To implement educational measures, it is necessary to determine the current knowledge and attitudes of the population. Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the knowledge and attitudes of students from University of Split in Croatia towards epilepsy. Method: Students from University of Split were surveyed using adapted questionnaire from study by Mewes et al. Study questionnaire consisted of three sections with total of 26 questions. The first section inquired about students’ sociodemographic data, the second tested their knowledge about the condition and the third their attitudes towards the epilepsy and affected patients. Biomedical and health students (pharmacy, medicine, dental medicine and nursing) were compared to the rest of the students to determine if their education lead to improved knowledge and attitudes. Total attitudes score was calculated based on six attitudes questions with scores ranging from 5 (signifying negative attitudes) to a maximum of 30. Data were analysed using Chi-squared and Mann Whitney U test. Results: Five hundred and ninety-five (N=595) students were included, of which 277 were biomedical and health students. The two groups differed in knowledge of epilepsy symptoms, with biomedical students having higher frequency of correct answers of almost all individual items in that part of knowledge section. However, they did not show good knowledge of first aid measures, as a significantly higher number of biomedicine students answered they would hold the person down during the seizure (62.2% vs 37.8% for other students) and put something solid in their mouth (96.6% vs 82.2% for other students), measures considered to be improper. Participants generally showed favourable attitudes towards patients with epilepsy, with no differences between the two groups in total score (28.0±3 vs 27.5±4, shown as median and IQR, p=0.089). Conclusions: To conclude, University of Split students generally had a good knowledge about epilepsy symptoms, but were less knowledgeable about first aid measures, with biomedical students performing surprisingly worse in certain first aid items. Overall, students had positive attitudes towards patients with epilepsy. Educational campaign could be beneficial to further improve the understanding of the disorder among the general public and it is imperative to close the gaps in health students’ knowledge

epilepsy ; knowledge ; attitudes ; students ; Croatia

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