Evaluation of attitudes toward epilepsy and health fatalism in northeastern Turkey

Abstract

Purpose: This study was carried out to identify the attitudes toward epilepsy, health fatalism, and the factors affecting these in individuals living in Artvin in the northeast of Turkey. Method: This descriptive and cross-sectional study involved 1443 healthy individuals at a hospital in Artvin in northeastern Turkey between January and March 2020. An individual information form, an epilepsy attitude scale, and a religious health fatalism scale were used to assess their views. An independent sample t-test, Mann–Whitney U test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: The mean score of participants' attitudes on epilepsy was 48.17 (standard deviation (SD) = 12.93), while the mean of their health fatalism score was 48.43 (SD = 17.41). There was a significant negative correlation between attitude scores and health fatalism (r = −0.084, p = 0.001). Significant differences were found among attitude, health fatalism mean scores, and misconceptions associated with religion about epilepsy being a contagious, psychiatric, and incurable disease that should be hidden. Significant differences were additionally observed among attitude, health fatalism mean scores, and education, marital status, income, employment status, and presence of chronic disease (p < 0.05). Conclusion: It was found that most individuals had moderate level attitude toward epilepsy and had high health fatalism. Individuals with a high degree of health fatalism were found to have more negative attitude toward epilepsy. Attitude was found to be more negative, and health fatalism was found to be higher in individuals with low education level, low-income level, who were married, who were unemployed, who had a chronic disease, and in those who thought epilepsy was a contagious, psychiatric, and incurable disease associated with religion that should be hidden. Implications: It is recommended that health professionals organize training programs to increase public understanding of epilepsy, improving individual attitudes toward the condition, and minimizing health fatalism