title: An educational campaign about epilepsy among Italian primary school teachers. 2. The results of a focused training program.
abstract: A cohort of 582 Italian primary school teachers underwent a questionnaire survey to test their knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy and verify whether an intensive and focused educational program could result in improvement of knowledge and attitudes. The program consisted of a presentation of the clinical manifestations of epilepsy and the distribution of informative brochures and an educational kit on the disease and its management to be used with their students. After several months, 317 teachers were retested using the same questions. Upon retest, the number of "don't know" answers decreased significantly for almost all questions. This was not the case for negative attitudes. The same holds true for teachers believing that epilepsy is a source of learning disability and social disadvantage. These findings support the beliefs that education on epilepsy is more likely to affect ignorance than prejudice and that stronger interventions are needed to counteract stigmatizing behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Neurologia e Psichiatria, Azienda Policlinico Umberto 1°, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Oriano
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mecarelli
authors.affiliation: IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Messina
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychiatry Department, Epilepsy Center, "C. Poma Hospital", Mantova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Capovilla
authors.affiliation: IRCCS-Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Unit of Neurology, Bellaria Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Michelucci
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neurology Unit and Epilepsy Center, Department of Neuroscience, "Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico" Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.affiliation: IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Milano, Italy. Electronic address: ettore.beghi@marionegri.it.
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beghi
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Simone
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cerquiglini
authors.forename: Marilena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vecchi
authors.forename: Clementina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boniver
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monti
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ferlazzo
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gasparini
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baldassarri
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cesaroni
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stranci
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elia
authors.forename: Sauro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Severi
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pizzanelli
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ausserer
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montalenti
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pieri
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Germano
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cantisani
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casellato
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pruna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004827:Epilepsy; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012574:Schools; D057545:Social Stigma
keywords: Attitudes; Children; Education; Epilepsy; Knowledge; School teachers; Stigma