Nigerian secondary school teachers' knowledge and attitudes towards schoolchildren with epilepsy

Abstract

A cross sectional study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and attitudes of secondary education teachers towards schoolchildren with epilepsy. Questionnaires were administered to three randomly selected schools and systematic random sampling method applied to select teachers in these schools. Their demographic characteristics and responses to the questions were analyzed. Out of the 105 teachers that returned completed forms, majority (97) were university graduates. Sixty-nine (65.7%) are aware that epilepsy may be caused by brain infection, 14 (13.3%) thought it is due to head trauma, while eight (7.6%) associates epilepsy with evil spirits; three (2.9%) thought that epilepsy follows a family curse and 11 (10.5%) were not sure of the cause. Concerning treatment, 89 (84.8%) believed the disease is curable but only 52.4% recommended orthodox treatment. Eighty-seven (82.9%) of the respondents will assist a convulsing child while 18 (17.1%) would either run away or not touch a convulsing child. Forty-nine (46.7%) of the teachers believed that epilepsy is contagious. There is a statistically significant relationship between the teachers who believed epilepsy is contagious and the action taken when a child is convulsing (χ² = 21.06, P = 0.00). Sixty (57.1%) of teachers thought that children with epilepsy are intellectually deficient, nevertheless, only 37.1% recommended special schools for children with epilepsy and another 11.4% suggested total exclusion of the children from school. There is relative lack of knowledge on epilepsy leading to misconceptions and stigmatization. These teachers can hand on same misconceptions to their pupils and by extension the entire community. We therefore, recommend an elaborate educational campaign on epilepsy by health professionals.

Keywords

Nigerian teachers - attitude - epilepsy