Outcome of a school-based health education program for epilepsy awareness among schoolchildren.

Background: A diagnosis of epilepsy has a major effect on children; especially among schoolchildren. Studies have shown that a significant proportion of teachers and students have negative attitude and misunderstanding towards epilepsy making it difficult for a child with epilepsy. At the same time, there is a dearth is dearth of literature regarding interventions to bring about a change in the attitudes of children.

Methodology: The aim of the present study was to study the outcome of a school-based health education program for epilepsy awareness among schoolchildren. The objectives were to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices about epilepsy and relationship among these variables. A total of 70 children, from 8th-10th grades were selected randomly for the study. For the study purpose, knowledge, attitude, and practices of epilepsy instrument were developed and face validated by experts.

Results: Results show that the mean, median, and mode age of the respondents in the study were 14.55 (±1.33), 15, and 14 years, respectively. The gender distribution of the respondents was 54.9% boys and 45.1% girls. With regard to knowledge, attitude, and practices in epilepsy, knowledge strongly and positively correlated with attitude (p=0.001, r=.423) and practice domains (p=0.001, r=.486). Postattitude and (p=0.001, r=.338) practice were positively correlated, which shows that positive attitude brings positive practice. Hence, it is concluded that a training program brings desirable change in the knowledge, attitude, and practice domains among children.

Conclusion: Health education programs for schoolchildren are very important to bring changes in their attitude, behavior, and practices.