@article{ref1,
title="Sustained improvement of attitudes about epilepsy following a reduction in media coverage of car accidents involving persons with epilepsy",
journal="Epilepsy and behavior",
year="2015",
author="Okumura, Akihisa and Nakazawa, Mika and Abe, Shinpei and Ikeno, Mitsuru and Igarashi, Ayuko and Shimizu, Toshiaki",
volume="48",
number="",
pages="41-44",
abstract="To evaluate changes in the attitudes of nonmedical students about epilepsy, the present study compared the results of a questionnaire that was completed in three different time periods: before media coverage of car accidents associated with epilepsy, during a period of abundant media coverage about epilepsy-related accidents, and after media coverage of epilepsy-related accidents. The nonmedical students who completed the questionnaire were divided into three groups: Years 08-10 (preaccident era), Years 11-12 (media coverage era), and Years 13-14 (postmedia coverage era). The rates of students who had read or heard about epilepsy and of students who did not think that epilepsy was a mental disorder increased annually throughout the study period. There was an improvement in attitudes about epilepsy after the media coverage era, and this change was not altered even after a decrease in the media coverage of epilepsy-related car accidents. Additionally, the rate of positive answers did not differ between Years 11-12 and Years 13-14. These findings demonstrate that the familiarity with and improved attitudes about epilepsy were sustained even after the media coverage of car accidents involving persons with epilepsy had decreased.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1525-5050",
doi="10.1016/j.yebeh.2015.04.053",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2015.04.053"
}