Knowledge, attitude and practice of epilepsy in Uttarakhand, India
Authors
Deepak Goel
Department of Neurology, HIHT University, Himalayan Institute, Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun, India
J Dhanai
Department of Neurology, HIHT University, Himalayan Institute, Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun, India
Alka Agarwal
Department of Neurology, HIHT University, Himalayan Institute, Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun, India
V Mehlotra
Department of Biochemistry, Himalayan Institute, Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun, India
V Saxena
Department of Community Medicine, Himalayan Institute, Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun, India
Keywords:
Epilepsy, knowledge, attitude and practice, epilepsy in India
Abstract
Objectives:
This study was conducted to find out knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of epilepsy among 12th-class students in Uttarakhand state. Secondly data of Uttarakhand was compared with KAP study from other parts of the country.
Materials and Methods:
All 12th-class students studying in six schools of randomly selected 36 villages in Chakrata block of Dehradun district of Uttarakhand state were provided a printed questionnaire having answer as “yes or no”. This questionnaire used was used previously by various authors and validated for KAP analysis. These filled questionnaires were collected by village health workers and medical officer.
Results:
This study conducted on 219, 12th-class students revealed that epilepsy was heard by 98%, 74.9% thought epilepsy a mental disease and 4.8% believed that it is contagious. Negative attitude showed as nearly 2/3rd students stated that epilepsy is hindrance in marriage and occupation. Nearly 41% would use onion or shoe for terminating seizure attack. Ayurvedic treatment was preferred over allopathic drugs.
Conclusions:
Study on 12th-class students of Uttarakhand revealed poor knowledge, attitude and practice for epilepsy and needs special education program to dispel these misconceptions.
Keywords: Epilepsy, knowledge, attitude and practice, epilepsy in India
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