Objective

This study assessed preparedness of Palestinian medical students as future physicians to care for patients with epilepsy through assessing their knowledge and attitude.

Methods

The current study was conducted in a cross-sectional design. A pre-validated study tool was used to collect sociodemographic and academic details of the students, test their knowledge using a 16-item test, and test their attitude using a 13-item test.

Results

A total of 386 medical students completed the study tool. The median knowledge score was 75.0% (range: 62.5% to 87.5%). The median attitude score was 81.5% (range: 73.8% to 89.2%). Knowledge and attitude scores correlated positively (Spearman’s rho = 0.25, p-value < 0.001). Students who were in their clinical training stage (OR = 4.22, 95% CI of 2.54 to 7.01), who had received a course/part of a course on epilepsy (OR = 2.55, 95% CI of 1.26 to 5.17), who perceived their knowledge of epilepsy as moderate (OR = 3.14, 95% CI of 1.87 to 5.28), and those who perceived their knowledge of epilepsy as high (OR = 11.91, 95% CI of 2.47 to 57.41) were more likely to score ≥ 70% in the knowledge test compared to those who were in their basic training stage, who had not received a course/part of a course on epilepsy, and who perceived their knowledge of epilepsy as low, respectively.

Conclusion

Findings of the current investigation may indicate that inclusion of courses on epilepsy early in the medical curriculum might promote knowledge of medical students with regard to epilepsy.

العنوان

Epilepsy and Behavior

الناشر

Elsevier

بلد الناشر

هولندا

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

معامل التأثير

2,508

نوع المنشور

Both (Printed and Online)

المجلد

120

السنة

2021

الصفحات

107976