Lee Sang-Ahm, Choi Eun-Ju, Jeon Ji-Ye, Paek Joon-Hyun
Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Epilepsy Behav. 2017 Sep;74:99-103. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.06.013. Epub 2017 Jul 18.
The scriptural description of Jesus driving out an evil spirit from a boy with epilepsy supported the idea of the spiritual nature of epilepsy for centuries. Korea has a shorter history of Christianity than the Western world. We determined whether there are differences in attitudes toward epilepsy and perception of epilepsy-related stigma between people with and without belief in evangelical Christianity in Korea.
Data were collected from evangelical churches and theological colleges. People without religious beliefs were enrolled as a control group through convenience sampling. The Public Attitudes Toward Epilepsy (PATE) scale and the modified Stigma Scale for epilepsy were used. Familiarity with and knowledge of epilepsy were also assessed. Evangelical Christians were categorized as professional or nonprofessional depending on whether they had received professional education in Christian theology.
A total of 227 evangelical Christians and 139 controls were included. The scores on the Stigma Scale and in the two PATE domains were significantly lower in the professional Christian group than in the controls or the nonprofessional group (p<0.05) but did not differ between the nonprofessional group and controls. After controlling for confounders, only the professional group was independently associated with lower scores on the Stigma Scale and in the PATE personal domain (p<0.05). The remaining associations lost their significance.
We found no differences in attitudes toward epilepsy and perception of stigma between people with and without belief in evangelical Christianity in Korea.
几个世纪以来，圣经中关于耶稣为一名患有癫痫的男孩驱邪的描述支持了癫痫具有精神本质的观点。韩国基督教的历史比西方世界短。我们确定了韩国有福音派基督教信仰和无此信仰的人群在对癫痫的态度以及对癫痫相关污名的认知上是否存在差异。
数据收集自福音派教会和神学院。通过便利抽样将无宗教信仰的人纳入对照组。使用了公众对癫痫的态度（PATE）量表和改良的癫痫污名量表。还评估了对癫痫的熟悉程度和了解情况。根据是否接受过基督教神学专业教育，将福音派基督徒分为专业或非专业两类。
共纳入227名福音派基督徒和139名对照组。专业基督教徒组在污名量表和PATE的两个领域的得分显著低于对照组或非专业组（p<0.05），但非专业组与对照组之间无差异。在控制混杂因素后，只有专业组与污名量表和PATE个人领域的较低得分独立相关（p<0.05）。其余关联失去了显著性。
我们发现韩国有福音派基督教信仰和无此信仰的人群在对癫痫的态度以及对污名的认知上没有差异。
