Knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy among Libyan parents resident in Tripoli

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Background: Epileptic patients experience a lot of negative impacts on their lives due to misinterpreting of the disease from the society. Objective: The present study was aimed to assess the parents' knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy. Methods: The study was conducted in Tripoli city during the period January–July 2015. Community-based cross-sectional study, descriptive in design, was employed. Participants were selected using random sampling technique. Data were collected through a structured pretested questionnaire. Results: Of the 379 study participants, 344 (90.8%) had heard about epilepsy, 54.6% reported that epilepsy is a mental disease, whereas 80.7%, 43.5%, and 70.4% mentioned that it is hereditary, contagious, and is possessed by evil spirits, respectively. Overall, 366 (96.6%) think that epilepsy influence patient self-confidence, 167 (44.1%), 309 (81.5%), and 251 (66.2%) believes that epilepsy is a treatable disease, respectively, by traditional medicine, wearing bracelet, and surgery, but patients will not be entirely cured (214, 56.5%). In this study, negative attitudes were reflected in the parents' belief that people with epilepsy should not have children (66.8%); 351 (92.6%) and 327 (86.3%) keep their children away from people with epilepsy and do not want family member to marry epileptic patient, respectively. Among the respondents, 242 (63.9%) think that people with epilepsy should not be employed with the same jobs as well people, 207 (54.6%), 349 (92.1%), and 337 (88.9%) think, respectively, that people with epilepsy should attend special schools, have specialized center to care their needs and should not get a driving license. Overall, the parents' knowledge and attitude were not gender dependent. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that most of the participants had lack of knowledge toward epilepsy. The majority of them have negative attitudes and considerable misconceptions. Therefore, the level of knowledge and standpoints needs adequate educational programs.