Knowledge and attitudes of teachers towards epilepsy in Zimbabwe
| Autor: | Jens Mielke, Bola Adamolekun, T. Mundanda, Douglas E. Ball |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Zimbabwe medicine.medical_specialty media_common.quotation_subject education High density Developing country Education Epilepsy Cost of Illness Insanity Formal education medicine Humans Psychiatry Developing Countries Health Education media_common General Medicine Middle Aged medicine.disease Suburban Population Neurology African population Female Health education Neurology (clinical) Epileptic seizure medicine.symptom Psychology Attitude to Health |
| Zdroj: | Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. 96:133-137 |
| ISSN: | 1600-0404 0001-6314 |
| Popis: | Objective - As a preliminary to designing a health education programme on epilepsy for teachers in Zimbabwe, we evaluated the knowledge and attitudes to epilepsy of teachers in Epworth, a poor, high density suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe. Materials and methods - All teachers in Epworth were invited to awareness workshops on epilepsy. A questionnaire on knowledge and attitude of epilepsy was distributed to all consenting participants. Results - 165 teachers (Male : Female 1 : 1.9) responded. Of the respondents 89% had heard or read about epilepsy, while 70.6% had observed an epileptic seizure. Epilepsy was considered hereditary by 34.6%, while 12.6% thought it was a form of insanity. Only 0.6% thought evil spirits were a cause, 22.6% thought that epilepsy was contagious, 82% would allow their child to play with an epileptic child, 76% would marry an epileptic while 55.7% would employ an epileptic. The majority would accommodate an epileptic and teach an epileptic child in class. Conclusions - These positive attitudes towards epilepsy by teachers may be attributed to their higher level of education and may imply that with increasing levels of formal education in the general African population, a more tolerant attitude towards epilepsy can be expected. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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