engleski

How does the label “epileptic” influence attitudes toward epilepsy?

Purpose The purpose of our research was to study the possible differences in attitudes toward epilepsy based on the label used: “person”/“child with epilepsy” vs. “epileptic”/“epileptic child”. Methods Two randomly assigned groups of college– preparatory high school students were questioned using anonymous questionnaires about their demographics, knowledge on epilepsy and attitudes toward epilepsy. Attitudes were measured using three general attitude questions and a six item modified version of the Bogardus social distance scale. Two versions of the questionnaire were identical except for the term “person”/“child with epilepsy” in first group (group A) being replaced with the term “epileptic”/“epileptic child” in the second one (group B). Mann–Whitney test was used to compare attitude scores between groups. Results There were 425 subjects in total, 208 in group A and 217 in group B. The results on the Social distance scale indicated significantly more negative attitudes in group B (p = 0.008). Subjects in group B also expressed more negative attitudes than those in group A when asked about sharing a room with a person with epilepsy (p = 0.005) and marrying a person with epilepsy, either themselves (p = 0.033) or when the person getting married is someone close to them (p = 0.024). Conclusion In conclusion, using term “epileptic” can evoke more negative attitudes toward a person with epilepsy and this seems to be especially true for more intimate life domains (cohabitation or marriage), while in more impersonal domains (such as communicating and working with a person with epilepsy), no significant influence of the label on attitudes was proven.

Epilepsy ; Attitudes ; Stigma ; Language ; Labeling

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