Santos I C, Guerreiro M M, Mata A, Guimarães R, Fernandes L, Moreira Filho D C, Guerreiro C A
Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (FCM/UNICAMP), Brasil.
Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 1998 Mar;56(1):32-8. doi: 10.1590/s0004-282x1998000100005.
To assess public awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in Brazilians of different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Several studies have examined public awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in various countries but there are no equivalent data for Brazil or South America.
We have applied the survey proposed by Caveness and Gallup, with some modifications and adaptations to four groups (I-IV) of subjects: I--105 individuals accompanying patients to the Ophthalmologic outpatient clinic of the Hospital das Clínicas of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP); II--93 students recently admitted to medical and nursing school; III--101 senior non-medical students; and IV--69 senior medical students. Group II, III, and IV were students at UNICAMP.
Individuals with a low socioeconomic standing had a poor profile of familiarity, knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy. The pre-university and university students had a relatively good profile when compared to the published international polls. Senior medical students had an excellent level of familiarity and knowledge, but showed no change in their objection to having a son or a daughter marry an epileptic person.
Our data suggest that there is a clear-cut relationship between the level of education and the individual's familiarity and attitudes toward epilepsy. Effective elimination of the prejudice toward epilepsy requires specific training and not just general, superficial information about the condition.
评估不同文化和社会经济背景的巴西人对癫痫的公众认知和态度。
多项研究调查了不同国家公众对癫痫的认知和态度，但巴西或南美洲尚无类似数据。
我们采用了卡维内斯和盖洛普提出的调查问卷，并做了一些修改和调整，应用于四组受试者（I - IV）：I组——105名陪同患者前往坎皮纳斯州立大学医院（UNICAMP）眼科门诊的人员；II组——93名刚被医学院和护理学院录取的学生；III组——101名高年级非医学专业学生；IV组——69名高年级医学专业学生。II、III和IV组均为UNICAMP的学生。
社会经济地位较低的人群对癫痫的熟悉程度、知识水平和态度较差。与已发表的国际民意调查相比，大学预科生和大学生的情况相对较好。高年级医学专业学生对癫痫的熟悉程度和知识水平很高，但在反对子女与癫痫患者结婚这一点上没有改变。
我们的数据表明，教育水平与个人对癫痫的熟悉程度和态度之间存在明显的关系。有效消除对癫痫的偏见需要进行专门培训，而不仅仅是关于该病的一般性、表面性信息。
