Epilepsy awareness among parents of school children--a municipal survey.

A pilot study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of parents of school-going children in a semi-urban municipal area of Bengal. An open-ended questionnaire with 14 questions were put in local language. A total of 1068 parents were interviewed with 76.9% males and 23.1% females. Most of them (60.7%) having an educational level above primary but below higher secondary school level; 41.4% surveyed believe epilepsy is caused by an infection and 40.8% have the idea that it is contagious too; 80.3% have the idea that epilepsy can be treated but 7.3% interviewed carry the idea that it cannot be treated at all. Only 35.9% responders are ready to allow an epileptic child to attend school and sit together with other children. In terms of first-aid management only 36.6% mentioned some useful first-aid measure. The general public attitude is reflected in this study. False belief and negative attitude leads to barrier in children education. Larger and comprehensive community-based educational programme is very much essential to bring about a change in negative attitude towards epilepsy.