Knowledge of adolescents from Novi Sad (Serbia) about epilepsy

Abstract

Aim: Determine the level of knowledge of 502 adolescent students (ages 15-17; from both gen-ders) about epilepsy. Methods: To assess knowledge of high school students about epilepsy was used instrument, the questionnaire designed by Bozkaya and associa-tes. All data were processed using the computer program SPSS, version 18.0. Results: The majority of study participants had heard about epilepsy, mainly from mass media. While books were found to be a significant sour-ce of epilepsy information for students enrolled in medical vocational schools, those enrolled in other schools obtained information about epilepsy from newspapers and magazines. Sleep disturbance and food were mentioned as the most frequent triggers of epileptic seizures; sleep disturbance was men-tioned significantly more frequently by medical vocational school students, while students from other schools more frequently mentioned video games and computers. No statistically significant response differences were found with respect to study participant age. Study respondents menti-oned sudden loss of consciousness, convulsions and foaming-at-the-mouth as the most common symptoms of epilepsy. Convulsions were signifi-cantly more frequently mentioned by female stu-dy participants than males. With respect to other symptoms, study respondents from medical vo-cational schools more frequently mentioned self-wetting and tongue biting than other participants. Among all respondents, the most frequently men-tioned emergency measure required in the case of epileptic seizure was: protect the head, remove potentially dangerous objects and call an ambu-lance. Response differences by gender and school type were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Finally, one could point out that high school students show an enviable knowled-ge of epilepsy, but it is still necessary to imple-ment health education campaigns, mainly through lectures and workshops for youth counseling at health centers, and through the mass media that proved to be the dominant source of information to young people about this disease, which would further raise the level of knowledge about epilepsy.