Background: Epilepsy is known to be a common disorder frequently encountered in the Department of Paediatric Neurology. Lack of awareness and inadequate knowledge toward epilepsy among the general population may affect epileptic children's life. The current study was aimed to assess the level of awareness and attitude regarding epilepsy in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: A descriptive observational study was conducted randomly among 421 participants in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, for a period from August 2017 to May 2018.
Results: Most of the participants disagreed (60.05%) that epilepsy could be a cause of Jinn. However, 25.24 (7.35% completely and 17.89% partially) agreed it could be caused due to Jinn. Also, the majority of the participant 49.75% disagreed that epilepsy could be caused due to evil eye and envy, but 12.25% of participants agreed and 23.28% partially agreed to it. The participants who believed that epilepsy is linked with Jinn or evil eye and envy were significantly dependent on the education level with a p-value of 0.005 and 0.001, respectively.
Conclusion: The level of awareness and attitude regarding epilepsy in the Saudi population living in Al-Ahsa was high, but still needs improvement as few misconceptions regarding its etiology has been noticed in the studied population. To raise the level of epilepsy awareness and education among the public, the authors recommend adopting public health programs and campaigns. Those programs and campaigns should include etiology, manifestations, complications, and awareness on how to deal with an epileptic attack, proper management strategies, and the social impact on individuals living with epilepsy.
Key words: Epilepsy, awareness; attitudes, neurology, Al Ahsaa
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