Public awareness, knowledge, and practice relating to epilepsy among adults in Konya.

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the familiarity with, knowledge of, misunderstandings, and attitudes toward epilepsy among a group of Turkish adults living in Konya, an urban city in central Turkey. By using an established familiarity-knowledge-attitudes practice questionnaire, 500 randomly selected adult residents of Konya were interviewed face-to-face. Demographic and sociocultural factors that predicted negative attitudes were determined. More than half of all participants (68.4%) reported hearing or reading about epilepsy, 44% knew someone with epilepsy, and 42.2% had witnessed a seizure. The primary source of knowledge was via relatives and friends; Negative attitudes were about marriage and inability to live alone with epilepsy (63.2% objected to marriage and 84% objected to living alone). A preconception of epilepsy being a dangerous and lifelong disease was the primary reason for negative attitudes. Predictors of negative attitudes were female gender, lower educational status, and living in a rural area. Negative attitudes regarding the marital status of patients with epilepsy still exist. These may stem from misconceptions about the cause and treatability of epilepsy.