Exploring multiple education interventions to reduce epilepsy-related stigma in primary school pupils: game, video,...

Epilepsy-related stigma-especially stigma enacted by peers-can have profoundly negative consequences for children living with the disease. Despite the availability of educational interventions aimed at reducing epilepsy-related stigma in children, relatively few studies systematically evaluate multiple intervention formats using follow-up assessments. The present study therefore sought to evaluate the efficacy of three educational interventions among primary school pupils: (1) the Action Zone! board game, (2) the Campi the Seahorse educational video, and (3) a read-aloud story based on the Campi the Seahorse video. A total of 406 primary school pupils aged 9-12 years participated in the study. Immediately before the intervention and again six months later, participants completed a multiple-choice test assessing epilepsy-related knowledge and the Stigma Scale of Epilepsy. Results indicated that all three intervention formats significantly improved epilepsy-related knowledge and reduced stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes toward epilepsy at the six-month follow-up compared with baseline. The Action Zone! board game produced a very large increase in knowledge (d = 1.29) and a moderate reduction in stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes (d = 0.50). In contrast, the Campi the Seahorse video yielded a small improvement in knowledge (d = 0.33), while the story-based intervention showed a small-to-moderate effect (d = 0.42). Both Campi the Seahorse interventions led to small reductions in stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes (d = 0.19 for video, d = 0.21 for story). These findings suggest that even brief, one-time interventions can meaningfully reduce epilepsy-related stigma in this age group.