Social discrimination against people with epilepsy is a common phenomenon all over the world, in spite of different cultural backgrounds. To know the public attitude toward epilepsy in Chonnam rural area, questionnaire survey was performed. Total 802 people answered to the questionnaire which consisted of 39 parts on several aspects of attitude and knowledge for epilepsy. The results were as follows; 1) In Chonnam rural area, epilepsy was a well known illness. 2) The incantatory, supernatal thinking was markedly prevalent, compared with other societies. 3) The social attitude for the jobs of epileptic people was negative even in the well controlled cases. 4) The prejudice was more serious in the lower educated people, and in the female group 5) The most important factor leading to the inadequate social attitude toward epilepsy was the knowledge, "epilepsy could not be treated." Public education and campaign for epilepsy should be considered to improve the quality of life of epileptic patients in rural areas.
Education ; Epilepsy* ; Female ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do* ; Prejudice ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Social Discrimination ; Thinking