Department of Neurology, University Hospital Sveti Duh, Sveti Duh 64, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Seizure. 2012 Dec;21(10):775-9. doi: 10.1016/j.seizure.2012.09.002. Epub 2012 Sep 20.
Within the "Out of the Shadows" campaign in Croatia, numerous activities have been organized. The aim of this study is to investigate the changes in knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy in the population of college-preparatory high school students, and to consider whether such changes could be the result of these activities carried out between 2002 and 2010.
This study was completed in Croatia's capital city, Zagreb, and sampled adolescent college-preparatory high school students. The surveys conducted in both 2002 and 2010 have been evaluated and compared. In both years the examinees completed a questionnaire made up of identical questions concerning the students' knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy.
In total, 430 respondents (227 students in 2002; 203 in 2010) completed a questionnaire. The 2010 survey indicates a higher degree of knowledge of epilepsy amongst the students (p<0.05), as well as more positive attitudes related to marriage (p<0.05), and the employment of persons with epilepsy (PwE) (p<0.01). The percentage of positive attitudes related to playing with children with epilepsy was high in both surveys (>97%). The results for the total sample reveal that students with a better knowledge of epilepsy had more positive attitudes (p<0.05). Yet in the survey conducted in 2010, when the level of factual knowledge about epilepsy was higher, this relationship was not possible to prove; improvement of attitudes was greater in students with worse knowledge of epilepsy than in those with better knowledge.
Based on the obtained results we conclude that improvement in factual knowledge is only one of the factors that can induce improvement in attitudes. The positive changes found in Croatia most likely stem from the cumulative effect of the various activities conducted in accordance with the principles of the "Out of the Shadows" campaign.
在克罗地亚的“走出阴影”运动中，组织了许多活动。本研究旨在调查 2002 年至 2010 年期间开展的这些活动是否能改变大学生预备高中学生对癫痫的认识和态度。
本研究在克罗地亚首都萨格勒布进行，抽取了青少年大学生预备高中学生作为样本。评估并比较了 2002 年和 2010 年进行的两次调查。在这两年中，考生都完成了一份由相同问题组成的问卷，涉及学生对癫痫的知识和态度。
共有 430 名受访者（2002 年 227 名学生；2010 年 203 名）完成了一份问卷。2010 年的调查表明，学生对癫痫的认识程度更高（p<0.05），对婚姻（p<0.05）和癫痫患者就业（p<0.01）的态度更为积极。两项调查中，与癫痫患儿玩耍的积极态度百分比均较高（>97%）。对总样本的结果表明，对癫痫认识程度较高的学生态度更为积极（p<0.05）。然而，在 2010 年进行的调查中，当癫痫的事实知识水平较高时，这种关系无法证明；与知识较好的学生相比，知识较差的学生的态度改善程度更大。
根据获得的结果，我们得出结论，事实知识的提高只是导致态度改善的因素之一。克罗地亚发现的积极变化很可能源自根据“走出阴影”运动原则开展的各种活动的累积效应。
