title: Sustained improvement of attitudes about epilepsy following a reduction in media coverage of car accidents involving persons with epilepsy.
abstract: To evaluate changes in the attitudes of nonmedical students about epilepsy, the present study compared the results of a questionnaire that was completed in three different time periods: before media coverage of car accidents associated with epilepsy, during a period of abundant media coverage about epilepsy-related accidents, and after media coverage of epilepsy-related accidents. The nonmedical students who completed the questionnaire were divided into three groups: Years 08-10 (preaccident era), Years 11-12 (media coverage era), and Years 13-14 (postmedia coverage era). The rates of students who had read or heard about epilepsy and of students who did not think that epilepsy was a mental disorder increased annually throughout the study period. There was an improvement in attitudes about epilepsy after the media coverage era, and this change was not altered even after a decrease in the media coverage of epilepsy-related car accidents. Additionally, the rate of positive answers did not differ between Years 11-12 and Years 13-14. These findings demonstrate that the familiarity with and improved attitudes about epilepsy were sustained even after the media coverage of car accidents involving persons with epilepsy had decreased.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Japan; Department of Pediatrics, Aichi Medical University, Japan. Electronic address: okumura.akihisa.479@mail.aichi-med-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akihisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Aichi Medical University, Japan.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikeno
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D011639:Public Opinion; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitude; Car accidents; Epilepsy; Familiarity; Media coverage