title: Worsening of attitudes toward epilepsy following less influential media coverage of epilepsy-related car accidents: An infodemiological approach.
abstract: To evaluate changes in the attitudes of nonmedical university students toward epilepsy in 2015, the present study compared the results of questionnaire surveys from four different time periods: before media coverage of epilepsy-related car accidents (2008-2010), during a period of abundant media coverage (2011-2012), after media coverage (2013-2014), and after novel media coverage (2015). The nonmedical students that completed the questionnaire were divided into four groups: 2008-2010, 2011-2012, 2013-2014, and 2015. The rates of students that had read or heard about epilepsy decreased significantly in 2015 compared with those in 2013-2014. Attitudes toward epilepsy had also worsened in 2015. The rates of students that would not oppose their children playing with or attending school alongside children with epilepsy and those who thought that people with epilepsy should be hired in the same way as other people had decreased significantly in 2015 compared with those in 2011-2012 and 2013-2014. Analyses of information-seeking behavior on the Internet showed that the increase in Google search volume and Wikipedia page views was much less in 2015 than in 2011 and 2012. These findings suggest that familiarity with epilepsy had worsened even after media coverage of novel epilepsy-related car accidents. This suggests that media coverage in 2015 was less influential than that in 2011 and 2012.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Aichi Medical University, Japan; Department of Pediatrics, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, 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, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Aichi Medical University, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kurahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Aichi Medical University, Japan.
authors.forename: Michihiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takasu
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: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
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; D004827:Epilepsy; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitude; Car accidents; Epilepsy; Familiarity; Google; Media coverage; Wikipedia