Abstracts

Rationale: The aim of this study was to define knowledge and attitudes towards epilepsy among students of health professions. Methods: This descriptive study was performed on university students from different health professions. To select the sample of the study stratified sampling method was used. The sample consisted of 544 students from five faculties of Istanbul University. The Epilepsy Attitude Scale was used to evaluate attitudes of the students towards epilepsy and a Knowledge Assesment Form developed by an expert panel was used to evaluate level of knowledge regarding epilepsy. Results: Among the 544 participants 59.6% were female, and the mean age was 21.7 years. 58.6% of the students were from medicine, 15.6% were from nursing, 13.2% were from dentistry, 6.8% were from physiotherapy and 5.7% from midwifery. 38.1% of the sample have witnessed an epileptic seizure. While majority of the sample recognized a generalized tonic clonic seizure, they did not know about other seizure types. 7.7% of the sample defined epilepsy as a mental disorder, 34.2% thought that even under control seizures impaired cognitive functions. 86.9% believed that patients could not be successful in their school life. When we asked about seizure first aid, 8.1% reported that they would make patients smell an onion and 4.4% drink water. When we asked about professions that are not appropriate to these patients student mentioned being a general physician (50.6%) and nurse at outpatient clinic (51.7%). The mean score of the Attitude Scale was 60.2 6.4 (range:30-70). The attitudes were not different between males and females (p=0.732). The students who had a family member with epilepsy (p=0.004) or witnessed a seizure (p=0.05) had a more positive attitude. The students from upper classess had a more positive attitude (p=0.004). Conclusions: Altough the sample of this study which consisted of students from health professions had moderate to good attitude towards epilepsy they still have lack of knowledge in particular areas. Each faculty needs to re-arrange their curriculum to fill this knowledge gap. Funding: No