Knowledge, attitude and practice of epilepsy in Uttarakhand, India

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to find out knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of epilepsy among 12(th)-class students in Uttarakhand state. Secondly data of Uttarakhand was compared with KAP study from other parts of the country. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All 12(th)-class students studying in six schools of randomly selected 36 villages in Chakrata block of Dehradun district of Uttarakhand state were provided a printed questionnaire having answer as “yes or no”. This questionnaire used was used previously by various authors and validated for KAP analysis. These filled questionnaires were collected by village health workers and medical officer. RESULTS: This study conducted on 219, 12(th)-class students revealed that epilepsy was heard by 98%, 74.9% thought epilepsy a mental disease and 4.8% believed that it is contagious. Negative attitude showed as nearly 2/3(rd) students stated that epilepsy is hindrance in marriage and occupation. Nearly 41% would use onion or shoe for terminating seizure attack. Ayurvedic treatment was preferred over allopathic drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Study on 12(th)-class students of Uttarakhand revealed poor knowledge, attitude and practice for epilepsy and needs special education program to dispel these misconceptions.