Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Epilepsy Behav. 2020 Sep;110:107158. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107158. Epub 2020 Jun 5.
Epilepsy stigma is an important issue affecting people with epilepsy (PWE) in various social aspects of life. Most studies on stigma were among the metropolitan population but rarely on indigenous people. Hence, this study aimed to understand the attitudes toward epilepsy of the East Malaysians, comparing with the West Malaysians previously reported.
This study was performed among the indigenous people in Kuching and Sibu (Sarawak) and Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) using the Public Attitudes Toward Epilepsy (PATE) scale. A higher score indicates poorer attitude.
A total of 360 respondents (41.7% Kadazan-Dusun, 30.6% Bidayuh, and 24.7% Iban) aged 34.6 ± 12.6 years completed the questionnaire. They were predominantly females and had lower education level and income compared with the West Malaysians. The Sabah population had significantly lower mean scores (better attitudes) than those in Sarawak, in both personal and general domains (p < .001). As compared with West Malaysia, the mean score in the personal domain was significantly lower in Sabah, while Sarawak had significantly higher scores in general domain (p < .001). Subanalysis showed that the Sabah population had better attitudes toward marriage and employment in PWE than the West Malaysians, whereas Sarawak had poorer attitudes toward education and social contact in PWE.
The attitudes toward epilepsy were different among the indigenous populations in Sabah and Sarawak, and from the West Malaysians, which could be attributable to their sociocultural differences.
癫痫污名是一个重要问题，影响着癫痫患者（PWE）在生活的各个社会方面。大多数关于污名的研究都是在大都市人口中进行的，但很少针对原住民。因此，本研究旨在了解东马原住民对癫痫的态度，并与之前报道的西马人进行比较。
本研究在古晋和诗巫（砂拉越）以及亚庇（沙巴）的原住民中进行，使用公众对癫痫的态度量表（PATE）。得分越高表示态度越差。
共有 360 名受访者（41.7%卡达山-杜顺人、30.6%比达友人和 24.7%伊班人）完成了问卷，年龄为 34.6±12.6 岁。他们主要是女性，与西马人相比，教育水平和收入较低。沙巴的平均得分（态度较好）在个人和一般领域均明显低于砂拉越（p<0.001）。与西马相比，个人领域的平均得分在沙巴明显较低，而砂拉越在一般领域的得分明显较高（p<0.001）。亚组分析显示，沙巴人对 PWE 的婚姻和就业持较好态度，而西马人则对 PWE 的教育和社会接触持较差态度。
沙巴和砂拉越的原住民以及西马人对癫痫的态度存在差异，这可能归因于他们的社会文化差异。
