title: Knowledge and practice of schoolteachers towards students with epilepsy in Khamis Mushate, Southern Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Epilepsy is a very common chronic neurological disorder in children throughout the world. This study was conducted to assess Saudi male schoolteachers' knowledge of epilepsy and practice in Southern Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among male teachers; 315 teachers filled a well-designed and pretested self administered questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately three-quarters (72.7%) of the schoolteachers had witnessed epileptic fits. Forty-six percent believed that epilepsy was caused by electrical discharges. Most of the school teachers (79.7%) disagreed with the idea of teaching children with epilepsy separately, or preventing them from sporting activity (50.5%). In addition, 94.9% disagreed with the idea that epilepsy was shameful. Unfortunately, 64.1% of the teachers who were exposed to cases of seizures were not able to provide first aid to students having epileptic fits (P = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The schoolteachers were generally knowledgeable about epilepsy. This fact can be used to design a national program through which teachers can help to bring about a well-informed and tolerant community toward epileptics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Peadiatric, College of Medicine, Najran University, Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Jobran M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alqahtani
keywords: Elementary and intermediate schoolteachers; epilepsy; knowledge