title: Outcome of a school-based health education program for epilepsy awareness among schoolchildren.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A diagnosis of epilepsy has a major effect on children; especially among schoolchildren. Studies have shown that a significant proportion of teachers and students have negative attitude and misunderstanding towards epilepsy making it difficult for a child with epilepsy. At the same time, there is a dearth is dearth of literature regarding interventions to bring about a change in the attitudes of children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of the present study was to study the outcome of a school-based health education program for epilepsy awareness among schoolchildren. The objectives were to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices about epilepsy and relationship among these variables. A total of 70 children, from 8th-10th grades were selected randomly for the study. For the study purpose, knowledge, attitude, and practices of epilepsy instrument were developed and face validated by experts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results show that the mean, median, and mode age of the respondents in the study were 14.55 (±1.33), 15, and 14 years, respectively. The gender distribution of the respondents was 54.9% boys and 45.1% girls. With regard to knowledge, attitude, and practices in epilepsy, knowledge strongly and positively correlated with attitude (p=0.001, r=.423) and practice domains (p=0.001, r=.486). Postattitude and (p=0.001, r=.338) practice were positively correlated, which shows that positive attitude brings positive practice. Hence, it is concluded that a training program brings desirable change in the knowledge, attitude, and practice domains among children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health education programs for schoolchildren are very important to bring changes in their attitude, behavior, and practices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health Education, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences [NIMHANS], Hosur Road, Bangalore, Karnataka 560029, India. Electronic address: meenaksiyer@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Meena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kolar Sridara Murthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work, Central University of Karnataka, Kadaganchi, Aland Road, Gulbarga, Karnataka 585 367, India. Electronic address: lakshmanagsagar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lakshmana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Govindappa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bangalore, Karnataka 560029, India. Electronic address: sanjib_sinha2004@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: Sanjib
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D000067656:Optimism; D012572:School Health Services; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Attitude; Behavior; Epilepsy; Health education; Practice