Abstract
Background.
Epilepsy is one of the most common pediatric neurological disorders. The knowledge and attitude of teachers toward epileptic students can be crucial.
Patients and methods.
This cross-sectional study was carried on schoolteachers in the city of Ouagadougou during the period from March 02 to July 20, 2020. The schools were chosen randomly among a list of recognized public or private establishments.
Results.
Two hundred and twenty teachers were included in the study. Among them, 35.45% were post-primary teachers. Most of them had already heard of epilepsy (98.6%). For the majority of school teachers, epilepsy was not a contagious disease (74%). Regarding the causes of epilepsy, the majority of participants had listed brain disease (65%) and genetic disorders (18.20%). The majority of schoolteachers (70.9%) believed that students with epilepsy usually had associated mental retardation. For the majority of teachers (73.20%), epilepsy was a stigmatizing disease, and students with epilepsy should benefit from personalized supervision (65%). The majority of schoolteachers (75.9%) had a good knowledge of epilepsy, and 43.6% had good attitudes toward epilepsy. The factor associated with teachers’ knowledge was having witnessed an epileptic seizure (p < 0.05). The factors related to schoolteacher practice was gender (p < 0.05) and having already witnessed an epileptic seizure (p < 0.05)
Conclusion.
Our study found that teachers had a good knowledge of epilepsy, but attitudes and practices were inadequate.