University Students’ Attitudes Towards Epilepsy in Madina, KSA

Background: Over 50 million people worldwide are affect-ed by epilepsy, a condition often misunderstood. This misun-derstanding leads to negative attitudes that can result in social isolation, discrimination, and a reduced quality of life for indi-viduals with epilepsy. This lack of understanding exacerbates the burden of the disease. Aim of Study: This study was conducted to investigate the attitudes of Saudi Arabian University Students towards people with epilepsy. Design: This is a cross-sectional study. Settings: University students survey. Main Outcome Measures: This study was conducted to investigate the attitudes of Saudi Arabian University Students towards people with epilepsy. Patients and Methods: An Arabic-speaking Taibah Uni-versity students, aged 17 to 28 years, with an average age of 20.37±2.66 years are surveyed. Most participants were female (62.8%). All participants completed a structured online ques-tionnaire to assess their general knowledge and understanding of epilepsy, their attitudes towards people with epilepsy, and their perceptions about employment, driving, and social partici-pation for individuals with epilepsy. Sample Size: This study examined 137 Taibah University students from medical and non-medical colleges. Results: Although more than half of the study participants had some prior experience with epilepsy, only a small fraction (11.5%) correctly identified it as a physical condition. Despite recognizing the rights of individuals with epilepsy to partici-pate in everyday life, a large number of participants expressed reservations about marrying (78.3%) or hiring (33.6%) some-one with epilepsy. Additionally, a significant majority (77.6%) believe that individuals with epilepsy cannot live independent-ly, and almost all (91.2%) believe they should not drive. These results emphasize the continued presence of significant miscon-ceptions and stigmatization surrounding epilepsy. Conclusion: This research revealed a significant lack of knowledge regarding epilepsy among university students, indi-cating that the general public may be even less informed. This knowledge gap can exacerbate the difficulties experienced by individuals with epilepsy. Limitations: Small sample size. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of inter-est. All aspects of this work, including its design, data collec-tion, analysis, interpretation, and publication, were conducted independently and without influence from any external parties, financial or otherwise.