Evaluation de la connaissance de l'épilepsie en Belgique francophone

Details

Supervisors

Ossemann, Michel

Faculty

Faculté de médecine et médecine dentaire

Degree label

Master [180] en médecine

Abstract

Introduction : Epilepsy is one of the most frequent neurological diseases affecting more than 50 millions of people in the world. This disease characterizes itself by the onset of seizures caused by an abnormally excessive or synchronized neurological activity in the brain which could manifest itself through several symptoms. This disease was the center of numerous mystifications throughout time and has led many times to the stigmatization of people suffering from this condition. Today epilepsy can be controlled by an adequate medication in 60 to 70% of the cases but we can observe several disparities in the management of this disease notably because of a lack of information about this condition. Purpose of the study : To assess the knowledge possessed about epilepsy by the patients affected by this disease, their relatives and the healthcare professionals in French Belgium. Materials and methods : From January 2014 to June 2015 people were asked to answer 34 questions online presented under the form of “true or false” coming from the medical section of the E.K.P.-G questionnaire created by S. Jarvie et Al. A retrospective study was then realized using the data coming from the answers at this questionnaire after that the participants which do not match the criteria of this study were excluded from it. Results : The global score obtained by the participants varies from 52.9% to 100% with an average of 81.8%. In the subcategories, the patients affected by this disease get 79.5% of correct answers against 80.5% for the relatives and 84.9% for the healthcare professionals. In this last group the neurologists and neuropediatricians get the highest score with 91.3%. The frequency of encounter with people suffering from this disease, the age, the duration of life with this affection seem to influence the global score. Conclusion: The knowledge of the targeted population in French Belgium reach a globally satisfying level. Nonetheless some items seem to be less mastered than others notably those concerning the treatment factors. To continue the awareness and the education of the different actors in the domain of epilepsy is thus crucial to improve the quality of life of the people suffering from this disease.