Perceptions of epilepsy of three different groups in Turkey.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate epilepsy-related knowledge, behavior, perceptions, and attitudes of people with epilepsy, their relatives, and a control group (390 participants in total) at the State Hospital Neurology Clinic, Yuksekova City, Turkey. METHODS: The Survey of Epileptic Patient Relatives on the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior Regarding the Disorder was used and included questions about descriptive characteristics, familiarity with epilepsy, attitudes toward epilepsy, and understanding of epilepsy. Data on SPSS 15.0 software were analyzed with the χ(2) test. RESULTS: Patients (95.3%), their relatives (89.2%), and controls (63.3%) felt primarily fear when they heard the diagnosis of epilepsy. Most participants would not let their child marry a person with epilepsy, with no statistically significant difference between groups (P>0.05). Patients (66.7%) and relatives (70%) saw no problem in people with epilepsy having children; there was a statistically significant difference between groups on this point because of the control group's response (31.5%) (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients and relatives showed similar attitudes and behaviors, perhaps because they had common information and experience regarding the disorder.