Clinical knowledge of epilepsy: A comparative evaluation of final year undergraduate students of health sciences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51412/psnnjp.2026.028Keywords:
Epilepsy, Clinical Knowledge, Students, Health scienceAbstract
Background: Inadequate knowledge of epilepsy among healthcare providers is believed to have far reaching impact on the quality of care provided to people living with epilepsy. The Objective was to comparatively evaluate the clinical knowledge of epilepsy among final year undergraduate students of health sciences.
Methods: It was a cross sectional study conducted among final year undergraduate students in the Colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine and Nursing Sciences of Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria. The instrument used in obtaining data was a 39 item questionnaire developed for the study. The mean of the total epilepsy knowledge score was determined and used to compare the clinical knowledge of epilepsy among the participants. Data obtained from the study was analyzed using the IBM SPSS for windows version 27.0. The inferential statistical tool, ANOVA, was also used to make comparisons. Aprior level of significance P<0.05 was used for all comparisons.
Results: Atotal of 121 students participated in this study. Majority of the study participants (60.3%; n = 73) had an average clinical knowledge of epilepsy. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean epilepsy knowledge score among the students in the three healthcare disciplines (Medicine = 23.55 ±4.56; Pharmacy = 22.75 ±3.80; Nursing science = 20.72 ±4.46; F = 5.201; p < 0.01).
Conclusion: Majority of the participants demonstrated an average clinical knowledge of epilepsy. Medical students exhibited a significantly higher clinical knowledge of epilepsy compared to their counterparts in pharmacy and nursing science. There's need for a more integrated approach to epilepsy education.
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