Nouvelles des membres du Réseau Conférence internationale: Effect of Cysticercosis Education on Improving the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Intentions towards Persons with Epilepsy in Burkina Faso

 

Une présentation d'Ellen Jackson, lauréate du concours de soutien à la participation à des conférences internationale 2019-2020, 1st International CYSTINET-Africa Conference (ICC 2019), 26-28 Novembre 2019, Mount Meru Hotel, Arusha Tanzania. Consultez le résumé. Communication accessible en ligne.

Co-auteurs: Veronique Dermauw, Athanase Millogo, Rasmané Ganaba, Helena A Ngowi, Pierre Dorny, Hélène Carabin

Résumé

Discrimination and stigmatization against persons with epilepsy (PWE) create a heavy burden among people with neurocysticercosis-associated epilepsy. This burden is often not addressed by programs that seek to control Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniasis. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in Burkina Faso to evaluate the effectiveness of a drug-free community-based intervention in reducing new infections through educating participants about how T. solium is transmitted and promoting avoidance of risky behaviors that may lead to infection. Although the education material did not target epilepsy stigma specifically, it did describe seizures as a possible consequence of infection and thus it may affect people’s knowledge, attitudes, and intentions towards PWE. Fifty-eight villages in three provinces endemic for T. solium were block-randomized to receive the intervention (n=29) or act as controls (n=29). Our data is from a visit 18 months after randomization when 80 people from each of the participating villages were invited to answer 24 questions about knowledge, attitudes and intentions regarding PWE. Initial univariate analysis was performed using t-tests, chi-square analysis, and ANOVA. Consenting participants (n = 4069) had poor knowledge of epilepsy (median score 50%), believed that having epilepsy negatively affected a person’s ability to live a normal life (i.e. poor attitude; median score 37.5%), and did not intend to socialize with PWE (median score 16.7%). Younger participants and participants with more education had better knowledge, attitudes, and intentions. Male participants scored higher than female participants on attitudes and intentions. Relative wealth did not significantly affect knowledge, attitudes, or intentions. Participants who received the intervention demonstrated a significantly higher level of knowledge overall than those who had not, although the effect was not visible on any one question when results were adjusted for multiple comparisons. The intervention did not significantly affect people’s attitudes and intentions towards PWE. Different patterns were observed in the three provinces. This study demonstrated that PWE still face considerable levels of stigma in Burkina Faso. As noted in previous studies, targeted interventions are needed to reduce the high level of stigmatization that PWE face in these areas.