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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Epilepsy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1480960
This article is part of the Research Topic Prevention of and early intervention for behavioral health disorders in people with epilepsy View all 3 articles

Public awareness, knowledge, and attitude towards epilepsy in Lebanon: A cross-sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Samar Younes Samar Younes 1Bahia Chahine Bahia Chahine 1Venise Hanna Venise Hanna 1Nisreen Mourad Nisreen Mourad 1Farah Al Souheil Farah Al Souheil 1Nadia Al Mazrouei Nadia Al Mazrouei 2Mohamad Rahal Mohamad Rahal 1Diana Malaeb Diana Malaeb 3*
  • 1 Lebanese International University, Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • 2 University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
  • 3 College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: Epilepsy, a prevalent chronic neurological disorder, is associated with misconceptions, negative attitudes, and stigma because of poor public knowledge and awareness. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to assess the knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards epilepsy and its associated factors among the Lebanese general population.A cross-sectional study was conducted on Lebanese adults between October 2021 and June 2022 using an electronic structured self-administered questionnaire that was circulated online using the different social media platforms. Data related to participants' demographic characteristics, knowledge, awareness, and attitude about epilepsy were measured. Eight items were included in the knowledge score that ranged between "0-16", five items were included in the awareness score and ranged between 0-10. Likewise, the attitude score was calculated from 14 items and the score ranged between "0-28". Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, and logistic regression was employed to identify factors associated with knowledge and awareness of epilepsy.Results: A total of 301 participants filled the questionnaire with a mean age of 28.68 and majority (66%) were females. The analyzed scores revealed that most of the participants (87.4%) had a good knowledge regarding epilepsy as a disease with mean of 10.2 (± 2.14), 70.1% had good awareness about epilepsy with mean of 6.3 (± 1.4), and 88% had good attitude towards patients with epilepsy with mean of 21.5 (± 6.2). Attending lecture about epilepsy was significantly associated with higher knowledge (OR 5.756,, p < 0.001), better awareness (OR 4.936, CI 95% 3.062-10.566, p < 0.001) and attitude (OR 5.187, CI 95% 1.687-9.761, p < 0.014) towards the disease.The findings of this study reflected an adequate knowledge and awareness, as well a positive attitude towards patients with epilepsy in Lebanon. However, there is a need for raising societal awareness and understanding of epilepsy to minimize the public misconceptions and reduce the stigma and discriminatory attitudes towards epileptic patients.

    Keywords: Epilepsy, Awareness, knowledge, attitudes, public, Lebanon

    Received: 14 Aug 2024; Accepted: 01 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Younes, Chahine, Hanna, Mourad, Al Souheil, Al Mazrouei, Rahal and Malaeb. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Diana Malaeb, College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.