Hafsa Aziz|Syed Wasim Akhtar|K. Zaki Hasan
Epilepsy in Pakistan: Stigma and Psychosocial Problems. A Population?Based Epidemiologic Study
Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center|Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center|Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center
assess stigmatization psychosocial problems persons epilepsy pakistana populationbased crosssectional epidemiologic study 241 persons epilepsy identified atrisk population 24130 individuals 647 urban 353 rural areas patients 77 suffered recurrent nonfebrile generalized convulsions evaluated degree stigmatizations ie avoidance friends neighbors others effect epilepsy psychosocial aspects eg marriage also relationships gender level education patients stigmatizationpatients epilepsy pakistan appear highly stigmatized education grades affected disorder difficulty performing activities daily living find hard make decisions whether marry children women believed dangerous others received less help families frequently men encouraged others avoid women also likely men express belief people epilepsy marry fact women frequently married compared mena fact influenced social cultural pressures including pressure family nearly always responsibility parents arrange marriage daughter influence education indicates people epilepsy higher education compared less education fewer children less often avoided classmates neighbors fewer problems plans education less frequently encouraged others avoid frequently married believed dangerous others people believed conditions physical basis 31 attributed epilepsy supernatural causesstigmatization regarding epilepsy proven important feature culture pakistan none observations statistically significant per pvalue