Beliefs and attitudes towards child epilepsy: A structural equation model

To analyze the possibly influencing factors of the beliefs and attitudes towards childhood epilepsy among users of the Family Health Strategy.

The participants were 300 users from three units of the Family Health Strategy in one city of northeastern Brazil. This primary health care service has a multidisciplinary team and operates close to the community, seeks to provide comprehensive care with actions to promote health, prevention, recovery, rehabilitation of diseases and frequent injuries in the community. Data were collected through a socioeconomic questionnaire and the Brazilian version of The Epilepsy Beliefs and Attitudes Scale - Adult Version, analyzed using descriptive statistics and structural equation analysis.

Various associations were significant (p < 0.05), religion positively influences beliefs and attitudes (β: 1.040; p: 0.044); an increase in educational level negatively influences beliefs and attitudes (β: -0.723; p: 0.040); being the parent of a child negatively influences beliefs and attitudes (β: 1.120; p: 0.043), but also positively influences beliefs (β: -0.244; p: 0.028).

This research contributed to identifying that having a religion, an increased educational level and being the parent of a child were factors that influence the beliefs and attitudes towards childhood epilepsy, aiming to contribute to a better implementation of actions directed to education in epilepsy.