title: Evaluating the impact of comprehensive epilepsy education programme for school teachers in Chandigarh city, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  School teachers can play a key role in the first-aid management of school children experiencing a seizure. The teachers have a pivotal role in disseminating knowledge to the children of diseases experienced by them and developing positive attitudes among the children regarding the diseases. The present study investigated the knowledge and practices used by teachers to manage epileptic seizures. The study also tested an epilepsy intervention educational package to see whether it improved the knowledge and practices of the teachers regarding epilepsy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 85 teachers in schools from Chandigarh, a city of northern India, participated in the study. At the start of the study the teachers completed a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire on the first-aid management of epileptic seizures. They were then presented with an intervention package that included audio-visual material on basic aspects of epilepsy. The teachers were then retested after the intervention (one immediately and another after three months from the intervention). A scoring system was devised to quantify the knowledge, attitude and skills of teachers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 90% of the teachers had previously either heard or read about epilepsy. Nearly half of the teachers said that books and magazines were the most common source of their information, followed by the internet. A comparison of the knowledge, attitudes and skills about the first-aid management of epilepsy based on the before and after questionnaire scores showed significant improvements in the various domains (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The epilepsy intervention educational package provided a positive, short term, impact on the knowledge and skills of teachers about epilepsy. There is a need for regular workshops to improve and reinforce the knowledge and skills of the teachers about health problems like epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India. Electronic address: sonugoel007@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: Sonu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College & Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Navpreet
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lal
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Amarjeet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy; D005178:Faculty / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Audio-visual material; Education; Epilepsy; Familiarity; India; School Health