Epilepsy and stigma

• Grant number: 12/14848-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2012
• End date: June 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Gloria Maria de Almeida Souza Tedrus
• Grantee: Renato Buarque Pereira
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências da Vida. Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-CAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition characterized by epileptic fits and is usually auto-limited. Epilepsies show diverse etiologies and different types of fit, and various prejudices, myths, and stigmas still exist, that society, and even the patients themselves, present with respect to their disease. The objective is to study clinical and psychosocial aspects in adult epileptic patients. Thirty adult epileptic patients will be evaluated, carrying out the following evaluations: anamnesis and clinical-neurological examination, digital EEG, the Quality of life in epilepsy inventory -31 (QOLIE-31), EEG, the Epileptic fit gravity scale (EGS), and the Epilepsy stigma scale (ESS). The inventory will consider questions concerning how the patient feels in relation to epilepsy, his perception of his physical condition, his satisfaction with his life as an individual, and his perception of well-being in the cultural context where he lives with respect to the ambiance he lives in. Parametric and non-parametric tests, adequate to the situations will be used, with a level of significance of p<0.05, in the search for knowledge that can provide better strategies of attention for these patients.(AU)