Abstract
•We examined knowledge of and attitudes toward epilepsy among university students in Saudi Arabia.•Knowledge of and attitudes towards epilepsy were more favorable among students of health specialties.•One fifth linked epilepsy to spirits possession and mental disorders, but almost half prefer spiritual ritual treatment.•Social interactions with people with epilepsy were more favorable among women except toward marriage.•Universities should make efforts to correct misconceptions and reduce the social burden of epilepsy.
Purpose: The association of epilepsy with spirits possession is common in Saudi community, stigmatizing people with epilepsy for generations. Bridging the gap in university students' knowledge and improving their attitude is key to alleviating this stigma.
Methods: We created a self-administered questionnaire that examined university students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward epilepsy. We obtained epilepsy knowledge scores and examined their associations with gender and college specialties.
Results: Of the 511 students, 51.6% had intermediate knowledge, while 25.2% and 23.2% had high and low knowledge, respectively. Students from health colleges had higher scores than the others. They significantly differentiated epilepsy as a brain disorder (65.5%), identified convulsions as a sign of epilepsy (92.2%), and linked epilepsy to head trauma (25%), genetic causes (22.7%), and congenital malformations (9.4%). Few respondents linked epilepsy to evil spirits (15.7%) and mental disorders (19.9%), but 46% preferred spiritual treatment. The respondents' attitudes were negative toward marriage (78%), employment (76%), and interactions of children with those with epilepsy (45.9%). Women were more tolerant than men regarding social relationships.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that knowledge regarding epilepsy improved compared with earlier surveys in Saudi Arabia and Arab countries; however, the "spiritual" and "mental disorder" misconceptions warrant future interventions.