Attitudes toward epilepsy among the primary and secondary school teachers in Malaysia, using the public attitudes toward epilepsy (PATE) scale

INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of study comparing the attitudes toward epilepsy between the teachers and general population, teachers and students, using a similar quantitative scale.
METHODS: This study was performed in one primary and one secondary school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, using the Public Attitudes Toward Epilepsy (PATE) scale.
RESULTS: A total of 186 teachers aged 39.6±10.4 years completed the questionnaire. The mean scores in both personal and general domains of PATE scale were significantly better in the teachers, comparing to the scores in the secondary and college students reported in previous study (Lim et al., 2013; p<0.001 and <0.05, respectively). The mean scores in personal domain was significantly better in the teachers, comparing to the general population reported by Lim et al. (2012; p<0.001). This hold true when comparing teachers with general population with tertiary education, suggesting that the better attitude is specific to the job, rather than tertiary education generally. Subanalysis showed that the attitudes of teachers were significantly better than the general population and the students related to employment and social life, but were equally negative on issues directly related to education, such as placing children with epilepsy in regular classes.
CONCLUSION: Teachers had more positive attitudes toward epilepsy as compared with the general population with tertiary education. Attitude to epilepsy may differ specific to types of work.