Volume 25, Issue 117, November 2021

Knowledge, attitude and practice of general population in Arar towards Bell's palsy

Abdelrahman Mohamed Ahmed¹, Awwatf Satam R Alshammari², Wurud Muteb D Alshammari², Marwa Mutlaq Awad Al-Anzi², Rawan Fayez Khalaf Alsaadi²

¹Associate prof., Internal Medicine Department, Northern Border University, Arar, KSA
²Undergraduate Medical student, Northern Border University, Arar, KSA

ABSTRACT

Background: Knowledge and attitude of General Population towards Bell's palsy vary greatly from place to another and depending on various aspects as sociodemographic aspects. Objectives: To assess knowledge, awareness and attitude of general Saudi population in Arar towards symptoms, causes and management of Bell’s palsy. Methods: A cross sectional study design was adopted. The study was carried out in Arar, Northern Province in Saudi Arabia, during a period of two months from 1 July to 31 September, 2021. Results: 87.9% of the participants had heard about Bell's palsy before. All participants who heard about Bell's palsy before or knew any of its symptoms got their information either from family and friends, newspaper, medical staff, or social media. Females had heard about Bell's palsy more than males did with 70.9% in females compared to 29.1% in males (P= 0.001). More than half of the participants (52.6%) who heard about Bell's palsy were from 19-30 years (P=0.001). University students or with higher education who heard about Bell's palsy were 59.9% of the total population (P>0.05). Also, 69.0% of the people heard about Bell's palsy were females (P= 0.001). Conclusion: Knowledge and attitude of Bell's palsy among population in Arar, KSA was not satisfactory as people's knowledge was limited to some extent.

Keywords: Bell's palsy, idiopathic facial palsy, facial nerve, knowledge, awareness, attitude, Arar, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2021, 25(117), 2868-2875

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