title: How does the label "epileptic" influence attitudes toward epilepsy?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of our research was to study the possible differences in attitudes toward epilepsy based on the label used: "person"/"child with epilepsy" vs. "epileptic"/"epileptic child".
  
  
  METHODS
  Two randomly assigned groups of college-preparatory high school students were questioned using anonymous questionnaires about their demographics, knowledge on epilepsy and attitudes toward epilepsy. Attitudes were measured using three general attitude questions and a six item modified version of the Bogardus social distance scale. Two versions of the questionnaire were identical except for the term "person"/"child with epilepsy" in first group (group A) being replaced with the term "epileptic"/"epileptic child" in the second one (group B). Mann-Whitney test was used to compare attitude scores between groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 425 subjects in total, 208 in group A and 217 in group B. The results on the Social distance scale indicated significantly more negative attitudes in group B (p=0.008). Subjects in group B also expressed more negative attitudes than those in group A when asked about sharing a room with a person with epilepsy (p=0.005) and marrying a person with epilepsy, either themselves (p=0.033) or when the person getting married is someone close to them (p=0.024).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, using term "epileptic" can evoke more negative attitudes toward a person with epilepsy and this seems to be especially true for more intimate life domains (cohabitation or marriage), while in more impersonal domains (such as communicating and working with a person with epilepsy), no significant influence of the label on attitudes was proven.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sveti Duh University Hospital, Sveti Duh 64, Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: latica.friedrich@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Latica
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ivana Lučića 3, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taslak
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sveti Duh University Hospital, Sveti Duh 64, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Sanja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomasović
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sveti Duh University Hospital, Sveti Duh 64, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bielen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitudes; Epilepsy; Labeling; Language; Stigma