Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), P.O. Box 1410, Mbarara, Uganda.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Kitchener Ontario, Canada.
Afr Health Sci. 2020 Mar;20(1):376-382. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v20i1.43.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that has a high worldwide prevalence with eighty percent of the global burden being in low and middle-income countries. There is a high level of perceived stigma among children and adolescents with epilepsy, which has severe debilitating effects and affects school attendance.
To assess the effect of perceived stigma on school attendance patterns among children and adolescents with epilepsy.
We conducted a cross sectional study among 191 children and adolescents aged from 6-18 years with epilepsy at one large semi-urban hospital and a small rural health center in SouthWestern Uganda. Epilepsy-related perceived stigma was measured using the adapted Kilifi Stigma Scale of Epilepsy and school attendance patterns were assessed using a piloted investigator-designed questionnaire.
Children with high-perceived stigma were more likely to have never attended school (13.8%) or started school late (average age 5.7 years) compared to those with low-perceived stigma (average age 4.9 years). Additionally, those with high epilepsy-related perceived stigma repeated classes 2.5 times more compared to those with low-perceived stigma.
These preliminary findings suggest correlation between high-perceived stigma and disrupted school attendance patterns among children and adolescents with epilepsy, hence the need to address this social challenge.
癫痫是一种神经系统疾病，在全球范围内发病率很高，全球 80%的负担在中低收入国家。儿童和青少年癫痫患者中存在较高程度的感知耻辱感，这会产生严重的致残影响，并影响其入学率。
评估感知耻辱感对癫痫患儿入学模式的影响。
我们在乌干达西南部的一家大型半城市医院和一家小型农村卫生中心对 191 名 6-18 岁的癫痫儿童和青少年进行了横断面研究。使用改良的基利菲癫痫耻辱量表评估癫痫相关感知耻辱感，使用经过试验的研究者设计的问卷评估入学模式。
与感知耻辱感低的患儿相比，感知耻辱感高的患儿更有可能从未上过学（13.8%）或上学较晚（平均年龄 5.7 岁）。此外，那些感知癫痫相关耻辱感高的患儿比那些感知耻辱感低的患儿留级的次数多 2.5 倍。
这些初步发现表明，癫痫患儿的高感知耻辱感与入学模式中断之间存在相关性，因此需要解决这一社会挑战。
