Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Epilepsy Among Rural Tanzanian Residents
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Date
1993
Authors
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Publisher
Epilepsia
Abstract
Before a health education program can be established, one must first know what the
target population believes and does with respect to the disease in question. Therefore,
we performed a study among Tanzanian rural inhabitants to identify their knowledge,
attitude, and practice (KAP) toward epilepsy: 3,256 heads of households (mean age
40.2 years, range 15–90 years; M/F ratio 1:1) were interviewed. Of the respondents,
32.9% said they had never seen a seizure; 67.7% said they did not know the cause of
epilepsy; 33.3% mentioned various causes including heredity, witchcraft, infection of the
spinal cord, hernia; 40.6% believed epilepsy was infectious through physical contact,
flatus, breath, excretions, sharing food; 36.8% believed epilepsy could not be cured and
17.1% believed it could not even be controlled; 45.3% believed epilepsy could be
treated by traditional healers, and only 50.8% believed hospital drugs were of any use;
and 62.7% of the respondents would not allow an epileptic child to go to school for
various reasons, including mental sub normality (54.0%), fear of the child falling while
alone (65.9%), and fear that the epileptic child would infect other children (11.2%).
Concerning what is to be done when a seizure occurs, 33.5% of the respondents would
keep away and not touch the person; 16.5% would take some potentially harmful
measure such as forcing a mouth gag or forcing a drink such as water (1 even
mentioned urine); 5.2% would take unnecessary measures such as rushing the patient
to a hospital. Only 35.7% of respondents would perform at least some of the currently
recommended first‐aid measures. Therefore, there is a need for health education on
epilepsy in Tanzania, and these results are forming the base for design and execution
of a health education and a primary health care program in epilepsy control.
Description
Keywords
Knowledge and Attitude, Epilepsy, Tanzanian Residents
Citation
Rwiza, H.T., Matuja, W.B.P., Kilonzo, G.P., Haule, J., Mbena, P., Mwang'Ombola, R. and Jilek‐Aall, L., 1993. Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward epilepsy among rural Tanzanian residents. Epilepsia, 34(6), pp.1017-1023.