The impact of an epilepsy peer education program on knowledge, attitudes, and first aid approaches: A quasi-experimental design

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a peer education program on students' epilepsy knowledge, attitudes, and seizure first aid approaches. Methods: This study utilized a one-group pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design. Peer educators provided training to 1343 peer students. The program consisted of two face-to-face sessions, each lasting 60 min. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, first aid management information form, The Epilepsy Knowledge Level Scale, and The Epilepsy Attitude Scale. Descriptive statistics, paired samples t-test, and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. Results: The Epilepsy Knowledge Scale score increased from 8.17(+3.46) to 12.50(+2.41), and The Epilepsy Attitude Scale score increased from 59.39(+7.32) to 61.01(+6.95) after the training. There was a significant positive correlation between students' knowledge and attitudes both before training (r = 0.305, p < 0.05) and after training (r = 0.344, p < 0.05). After the training, the percentage of students who felt competent for seizure first aid intervention increased from 20.5 % to 54.4 % (p < 0.001). After the training, the results regarding recognizing seizure symptoms and what to do during a seizure were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Significance: Our results show that peer-mediated learning is highly acceptable and that the training improves students' knowledge, positive attitudes, and seizure first aid approaches. Given these results, it is suggested that school-based epilepsy peer education programs be developed and implemented for students who will become future health professionals.