Knowledge about epilepsy in university health students: A multicenter study.

Knowledge about epilepsy in university health students: A multicenter study. Epilepsy Behav. 2017 Dec 21;79:112-116 Authors: Souza P, Portes LA, Thomas RK, Bonito JR, Rua M, Pacheco FJ, Plaatjes P, Oliveira NC Abstract Even with economic development and improvements in health care around the world, it is estimated that nowadays, 50 million people have epilepsy. It is one of the most prevalent neurological diseases, yet it is still surrounded by prejudice, stigma, lack of awareness, and wrong attitudes of the population towards the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the knowledge about epilepsy in health students from different countries: Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, United States, and South Africa. Students were asked to complete a survey regarding knowledge about epilepsy (the Epilepsy Knowledge Questionnaire). One hundred and two students participated, 62.2% of them were female. Portuguese students had significantly higher values than the American ones (p=0.025). Regarding the medical aspects, on average, students hit 63.8% of the questions, and the students from Portugal had significantly higher average than the ones from the United States (p=0.0007). Statements with lower percent of correct answers were about pathophysiology, medication, and treatment of the disease. There were no differences between the scores obtained by the students of each country in the social aspects of the disease. Statements with h...
Source: Epilepsy and Behaviour - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Epilepsy Behav Source Type: research