Sustained improvement of attitudes about epilepsy following a reduction in media coverage of car accidents involving persons with epilepsy

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.