Knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about epilepsy among rural and urban populations in cairo governorate and shebeen elkoum district

This study used a cross-sectional design aiming to assess the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about epilepsy among rural and urban populations in Cairo Governorate as an urban area and Shebeen Elkoum district, as a rural area. The study was conducted at the outpatient clinics in Ain Shams University Hospital, which is situated in Cairo Governorate as an urban population; and Shebeen Elkoum University Hospital which is situated in Shebeen Elkoum district as rural population. The study population included 1320 individuals [males and females], 660 individuals from rural population, residing in Shebeen Elkoum district, and 660 individuals from urban population, residing in Cairo Governorate. They were recruited during their visit to the outpatient clinics, either alone or accompanied by others .They were chosen stratified random sample over a period of 10 weeks. Epileptic patients were excluded from this study. - A questionnaire lo assess participants' demographic data which included age,- sex, marital status, educational level and occupation. The questionnaire derived from literature reviews [Diamantopoulos et al., 2006., Daoudet al., 2007; Tuan et al., 2007] also dealt with population knowledge ,regarding causes of epilepsy, manifestations of the disease,, awareness and preference of treatment option and sources of their information about epilepsy. 2]Attitudes were measured with questions designed by Cohn [1987] about willingness to socialize with persons with epilepsy, persons with epilepsy having jobs like other people, epilepsy as a mental illness, the danger of epileptic seizures while driving, also the sheet included their attitude toward what is to be done when a seizure or fit occurs [9 items]. revealed that, population with university education were more likely to exhibit positive attitudes toward the epileptic patients when compared to non-literate population [P< 0.001].The study concluded that knowledge about epilepsy is scant among rural population, and the majority of the negative attitudes toward epilepsy were significantly associated with the misunderstanding of epilepsy and can vary substantially by culture. This study recommended the development of public awareness strategies through:- creation of effective health education of materials to address misconceptions and the development of other means of publicity to reach the underprivileged population, such as ;role-playing for rural areas and hotlines for urban areas

Impact students counseling program on ther knowledges and attitudes about smoking

The size of smoking problem is big enough to be considered a warning of an impending epidemic. Colleges should have a greater role in health education for the students girls, therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of counseling program on their know ledges and attitudes about smoking. This study was conducted on 30 students Girls in Saudi Arabia Kingdom during the first trimester of the Academic year 2005-2006. Tools of data collection were; the socio-demographic characteristics sheet, knowledge assessment questionnaire, students attitudes toward smoking and the developed counseling program. All these tools were applied before counseling sessions as a pre-test and after sessions as an evaluating test, Results of the study revealed statistical significance difference between pre and post counseling about smoking, the study concluded that the improvement in student's knowledge and attitudes about smoking after the counseling session, the study recommended that: The onset of smoking in the students girls is alarming. This is of immense the importance of formulating health education strategies, which should be directed towards students, teachers and parents, the religious education should be the corner stone for any organized tobacco control activities. Students need family members able to comprehend their problems and to have therapeutic communication skills to help them recover and prevent relapse. Psycho-social nurses need to be actively involved in directing resources and talents toward public awareness and tobacco prevention programs, formulating public policy initiatives to control youth access to tobacco, and initiating cessation programs for youth, their efforts can be targeted at the schools, colleges and community and health care system. The spread of smoking, especially among women, should be target at schools and universities as the majority picks up the habit before the age of 20 years in Saudi Arabia