Abstracts

Rationale: Epilepsy affects approximately 2% of the world population and most of the cases start in childhood. As there is scarce public divulgation about epilepsy, this subject needs to be presented to the community, especially in schools, where children stay most of their time. In Brazil, the largest developing South-American country with 190 million inhabitants, school enrollment in basic education rose from 85% in 1990 to 97% of the population in 2005. The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge about epilepsy of Elementary School teachers in Sao Paulo, the biggest city of Brazil, applying a questionnaire in the project “Epilepsy at school. Teaching the teachers” of the Associação Brasileira de Epilepsia (ABE), which is the oficial Brazilian Branch of International Bureau for Epilepsy. Methods: A questionnaire was developed by ABE and was applied to teachers of public and private Elementary Schools in Sao Paulo and it is composed by 35 multiple-choice questions concerning the following areas: concepts and definition of epilepsy and its causes (10); misconception with mental disease (5); treatment and adverse effects of antiepileptic medication (10); activities of people with epilepsy (5); and finally, first-aid during an epileptic seizure (5). The 35 questions questionnaire was presented before the lecture “Epilepsy for teachers” given by a health professional from ABE (phase 1) and afterwards (phase 2). Results: In phase 1 the average mean of the right answers of the surveyed teachers was 70.0%, and in phase 2, it was 80.0% of the 35 questions. The mistakes were more frequently done in concepts and definition of epilepsy and its causes, especially by older teachers (>50yrs.). Misconception of epilepsy with mental disease was rarely seen in this group of surveyed professionals. Conclusions: We observed that teachers of Elementary Schools in Sao Paulo city, Brazil, had basic knowledge about epilepsy, which could be increased after the specific lecture given by the Associação Brasileira de Epilepsia.