A survey of public knowledge, attitudes, and practices with respect to epilepsy in Badissa Village, Centre Region of Cameroon

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) with respect to epilepsy in Badissa, as part of a series of studies mandated by the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health.MethodWe interviewed 164 subjects face-to-face during a door-to-door survey.ResultsAll of the subjects had heard about epilepsy; 98.8% knew at least one patient with epilepsy, and 97.6% had seen at least one epileptic seizure. With respect to attitudes, 16% and 32% would respectively prevent their children from associating with and marrying, people with epilepsy; 55.5% would offer people with epilepsy equal employment. The independent determinants of attitudes were the belief that epilepsy is a form of insanity (P = 0.004) or is caused by a mental illness (P = 0.003), having read about epilepsy (P = 0.018), and being married (P = 0.007).ConclusionsOur study demonstrates a high level of awareness and fairly good knowledge of epilepsy, a lower level of misconceptions, and better attitudes, in the study area confirming our hypothesis of a regional variation in these characteristics. This model of care may be useful in scaling up the epilepsy education program in Cameroon.