A SURVEY OF KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF PEOPLE IN SHIRAZ TOWARD EPILEPSY

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder. The impact of epilepsy on the quality of life is usually greater than the limitations imposed by the seizures alone. Level of information and attitudes of people toward epilepsy can affect psycho-social aspects and quality of life of many patients with epilepsy. This study was conducted on 800 randomly sampled participants in Shiraz، Iran. A questionnaire similar to the ones used in earlier studies in other reliable articles in other countries was prepared. We evaluated the level of familiarity، knowledge and attitudes of people in Shiraz toward epilepsy. Overall، 57. 8% of participants were familiar with epilepsy that mostly was seen in the age range of 10 ± 30 years'' old، urban people and those who had academic educations. 74. 8% of respondents believed that epilepsy and seizure are different. 11. 1% mentioned that epilepsy was a kind of madness and insanity. Only 4% would allow their children to marry a person with epilepsy. 18. 4% believed epileptic patients were different from other persons in behavior. More positive attitudes and information was reported in urban people and those who had academic education. Group of our study in comparison with other studies had less familiarity with epilepsy. In spite of having positive attitudes in some aspects، there was not adequate knowledge about this disease and only some high educated and urban people expected a good prognosis for patients with epilepsy. Community education can have positive effects on increasing correct information and decreasing epilepsy stigma.