title: Teachers perception about epilepsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify in a town of Brazil the knowledge, attitude and perception of epilepsy in teachers of elementary schools and to compare these before and after a training exercise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Teachers of nine public schools of Barão Geraldo, Campinas, Brazil completed a questionnaire. Two researchers had meetings with teachers, presenting the Global Campaign "Epilepsy out of the shadows", when the questionnaire was first completed by all attendees. Twenty teachers of these schools were motivated to attend a training course entitled "Epilepsy and Health" as part of their continuous education programme. Two years later the same questionnaire was again completed (post-test) by these 20 teachers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  100 teachers originally completed the questionnaire (97 women, mean age 42 years, 64 married). Forty-three percent of teachers said that they had enough knowledge regarding epilepsy and 20% said that they had poor knowledge about the condition. Regarding the IQ of children with epilepsy, 45% of teachers believed that they had average IQ, 18% above average, six percent under average and 29% did not know. Teachers believed that children with epilepsy have a higher possibility of acquiring mental disease in the future (51%); that epilepsy is a disease (68%); that epilepsy is contagious (1%); epilepsy is treatable (90%). After the course, the teachers beliefs seem to have improved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work with elementary school teachers identified difficulties related to epilepsy which, if addressed, may help promote better quality of life of people with epilepsy in the community and help to decrease stigma attached to the condition. Better informed teachers are likely to have a more positive attitude and this will be passed to others. Educational campaigns about epilepsy amongst teachers should be encouraged as this may improve the management of epilepsy, by helping to develop a well informed and tolerant community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paula T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Ana L A
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Noronha
authors.forename: Ulisses
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pataro
authors.forename: Hanneke M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: de Boer
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prilipko
authors.forename: Josemir W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Sander
authors.forename: Li M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005178:Faculty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires