Attitudes towards epilepsy in the Austrian general population: Predictors and national trends

Abstract

We aimed to assess attitudes towards epilepsy and people with epilepsy (PWE) in Austria using a web-based survey including demographics, the Caveness questionnaire (CQ) and Scales of Attitudes toward People with Epilepsy questionnaire (SAPE). Furthermore, we compared our results with a previous Austrian study and investigated predictors for negative attitudes towards epilepsy and PWE. Results from 1017 adult respondents familiar with epilepsy revealed that 66.8% had had personal contact with PWE and 51.1% had experienced an epileptic seizure firsthand. However, only 28.3% of respondents were able to identify half of the correct answers regarding epilepsy as a disease and treatment options. This is highly important, as these were the strongest predictors for more positive attitudes towards PWE. In SAPE, another strong predictor for more favorable attitudes was prior personal contact with PWE. Compared to 2005, familiarity with epilepsy, personal contact with PWE as well as firsthand experience of seizures, and support for employing PWE like others increased significantly. While we report a favorable slight decrease of respondents who consider epilepsy a form of insanity, there was no significant difference in objection of their children having contact with children with epilepsy and marriage of their children with PWE. Thus, we demonstrate that even though familiarity with epilepsy and personal contact with PWE increased in Austria, there are still negative attitudes towards epilepsy and PWE present. Further education campaigns should focus especially on the areas of epilepsy knowledge, epilepsy treatment and what to do when someone has an epileptic seizure.

Keywords: Attitudes towards epilepsy; Caveness questionnaire; Epilepsy stigma; Scales of the Attitudes toward People with Epilepsy (SAPE); Social distance; Stereotypes.