A survey of public knowledge, attitudes, and practices with respect to epilepsy in Badissa Village, Centre Region of Cameroon

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) with respect to epilepsy in Badissa, as part of a series of studies mandated by the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health. Method: We interviewed 164 subjects face-to-face during a door-to-door survey. Results: All of the subjects had heard about epilepsy; 98.8% knew at least one patient with epilepsy, and 97.6% had seen at least one epileptic seizure. With respect to attitudes, 16% and 32% would respectively prevent their children from associating with and marrying, people with epilepsy; 55.5% would offer people with epilepsy equal employment. The independent determinants of attitudes were the belief that epilepsy is a form of insanity (P = 0.004) or is caused by a mental illness (P = 0.003), having read about epilepsy (P = 0.018), and being married (P = 0.007). Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a high level of awareness and fairly good knowledge of epilepsy, a lower level of misconceptions, and better attitudes, in the study area confirming our hypothesis of a regional variation in these characteristics. This model of care may be useful in scaling up the epilepsy education program in Cameroon.