Awareness and Attitude among Nonmedical University Students on Epilepsy in Lebanon: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Abstract Background  Several studies addressed the awareness and knowledge of epilepsy among students and teachers that indicated unfavorable levels of awareness, but none in Lebanon. Aim  The aim of this study is to determine the level of awareness and attitude toward epilepsy among nonmedical university students. Methods  A survey-based questionnaire was conducted among 1,000 nonmedical students. SPSS was used for data analysis. Results  Participants claimed 78.5% having some knowledge about epilepsy (78.5%), with only 20.1% of the participants attaining their knowledge through university courses. Alarmingly, negative beliefs were noticed in our study such as considering person with epilepsy (PWE) as disabled (34.9%), epilepsy is a genetic disorder (40.9%), and it would lead to insanity (43.1%). Moreover, participants think that a PWE is unable to get married (29.5%), nor have children (25.2%), and they would even refuse to marry someone with epilepsy (35.7%). On the other hand, participants showed some positive behaviors such as the fact that epilepsy is not contagious (81%), would accept to accompany a colleague with epilepsy (72.1%), and believing that PWE can succeed at jobs (82.2%). When it comes to providing first aid, wrong practices were reported such as believing that something should be placed in the mouth during a seizure to avoid biting their tongue (58.1%). Conclusion  Lack of knowledge, acceptance, and first aid practices have been observed in our study. Thus, efforts in including epilepsy within university curriculums, as well as raising awareness different platforms and campaigns should be done, as the social burden is even higher on PWE.