Abstract
Background: Cancer is a highly stigmatized illness associated with profound adverse impact on communities, families and diagnosed individuals. Notwithstanding extensive theorizing since Erving Goffman's classical contributions, health stigma is well explicated in context-specific and situated analysis. The current study explored the manifestations of self and enacted stigma among 20 selected people diagnosed with cancer from rural and urban Zimbabwe, who sought quaternary level of health care services in the capital, Harare. Methods: Phenomenological methodology was enlisted to capture intimate expressions of stigma as expressed about, and by people diagnosed with cancer. Data collection methods used includes semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. A semi-structured in-depth interview guide, focus group discussion guide and a key informant interview guide were the tools used to collect the data. Results: The study identified five themes of stigma, indicating pronounced, complex and multiple catalogues of stigma embedded in the existing socio-cultural milieu. Conclusions: This study stands to offer invaluable conceptual schemas and empirical insights on health-related stigma, and may aid in nursing and in the design of educational programs meant to combat health stigma.
Highlights
This article examines cancer-related stigma among selected black-African people diagnosed and living with cancer in Zimbabwe
This study explored the experience of self and enacted stigma among selected Black-African people diagnosed with cancer in Harare, Zimbabwe
From a FGD in Harare, a story was told of a woman with pancreatic cancer who shut the public out from visiting or talking to her, only to open up at the intervention of two women counsellors who themselves had lived for several years with cancer
Summary
This article examines cancer-related stigma among selected black-African people diagnosed and living with cancer in Zimbabwe. A total of 2,804 deaths were recorded in the three major cities of Harare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza, with the leading causes of death being cervical cancer (13%), followed by prostate cancer (10%), breast (8%), oesophagus (7%), liver (6%), stomach (5%), Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (5%), Kaposi Sarcoma (4%) and colorectal (4%) in the year 2017, up from 2,751 in 2016 (Chokunonga et al, 2020). These numbers are significant given our modest total population of 15.7 million people, and given that some cases of malignancy and cancer deaths go unreported and are not captured in official statistics. Conclusions: This study stands to offer invaluable conceptual schemas and empirical insights on health-related stigma, and may aid in nursing and in the design of educational programs meant to combat health stigma
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