Public Awareness, Understanding, and Attitudes toward Epilepsy in a Rural Community in Taiwan

Abstract

A community-based survey of public awareness, understanding, and attitudes toward epilepsy was conducted in Chin-San Village, Taiwan in 1992. In a sample of 1,918 adults, 83% had read or heard about epilipsy; 71% knew someone who had epilepsy; 59% had witnessed someone having a seizure; 20% woulk object to having their children associate with persons with epilepsy in school or at play; 71% would object to having their children marry a person witdh epilepsy; 38% believed that epileptic persons should not be employed in jobs as other persons are; 6% believed that epilepsy was a form of insanity; 39% did not know the cause of epilepsy; 17% did not know what an epileptic attack was like; and 24% did not know what to recommend if their friends or relatives had epilepsy. The younger, better educated, better employed members of the community had more favorable opinions in every survey questions except for the one on marriage, in which they showed greater objection to marrying an epileptic. Compared with the survey conducted in Henan Province, China, the current survey showed that the attitudes toward epilepsy were more positive in Taiwanese living in this village.#0090#