Teachers' perception of epilepsy in Nigeria: a community-based study

The social problems encountered by schoolchildren with epilepsy as a result of negative attitudes and beliefs are enormous. Varying reports on teachers' perception of epilepsy abound. Furthermore previous research has shown that urbanization and differences in socio-cultural environments could also influence teachers' perception of epilepsy. A few studies have explored the knowledge, attitude and beliefs of schoolteachers towards epilepsy in urban schools in Nigeria. This study was undertaken to examine teachers' perception of epilepsy in the rural communities with regards to knowledge, attitude and beliefs. A cross-sectional survey, using a self-administered questionnaire, was carried out among rural community primary and secondary schoolteachers in schools randomly selected from three local government areas in Enugu. One hundred and twenty five teachers correctly completed their questionnaires. Despite a fairly high level of education of the teachers, the mean overall score for correct response for knowledge was 59.2%. A majority of the teachers had negative attitudes and beliefs. None had received any form of health education on epilepsy. The level of education significantly affected various aspects of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs. This study concluded that paucity of good knowledge of epilepsy probably resulted in negative attitude and beliefs despite the teachers' high level of education. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of BEA Trading Ltd.