Abstract:
Epilepsy is the most common serious and chronic neurological disorder worldwide. Lack of knowledge and negative attitudes among teachers towards epilepsy causes stigmatization and discrimination of children diagnosed with epilepsy on a daily basis. Teachers in Namibia do not receive formal training on epilepsy, which may lead to them missing partial epileptic seizures, especially on undiagnosed children. Little is known about the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Namibian teachers towards epilepsy, because there are no documented findings about the condition. Of the 247 patients who were diagnosed with epilepsy at Oshakati Intermediate Hospital from January to December 2013, 31% of them were school-going children. It is against this background that a quantitative, descriptive and cross sectional study was employed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of secondary school teachers in Oshana Region towards epilepsy.
The objectives of the study were to: Examine the knowledge of secondary school teachers in Oshana Region on epilepsy, determine the attitudes of secondary school teachers in Oshana Region towards epilepsy and explore practices of secondary school teachers in Oshana Region towards epilepsy One hundred and thirteen questionnaires were distributed and completed, giving a response rate of 100%. The respondents‟ ages ranged between 21 and 60, with a range of 37, and a median of 35. The majority of respondents (22%) fell in the age group of 26 – 30. Ninety six percent (96%) of the respondents were familiar with epilepsy. Generally, the attitudes of the teachers towards epilepsy in this study are positive; however there are some misconceptions about epilepsy, whereby some teachers believe that epilepsy is contagious. Some respondents (19.47%) have revealed the need for a teachers‟ training on epilepsy, which was also recommended by the study.
