Stigma experienced by persons diagnosed to have a mental illness – a descriptive study

A M Fernando,S Pathirana,S Tennakoon,T N Rajapakse,A M M Godavitharana,D Ariyasinghe

doi:10.4038/sljpsyc.v8i2.8157

Abstract

Background In Sri Lanka, mental illness is often considered an embarrassing topic, which is not openly discussed. The stigma associated with mental illness influences the way people choose to seek help and the use of services. Aims To describe the nature of stigma experienced by patients presenting to the adult psychiatry clinic at Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya. Methods The stigma scale by King et al. was translated to Sinhala and modified to suit the Sri Lankan context. This modified version was distributed among 100 patients attending the adult psychiatry clinic at T.H. Peradeniya over a consecutive twomonth period. Results The most commonly endorsed discriminatory items pertaining to stigma were, that the participants felt they could not have a satisfactory married life, and that they felt isolated and talked down to, due to their illness. Almost half said they would avoid telling others about their mental health problems. In contrast, 56.1% reported that they felt that the support from their family has increased due to their mental health problems. Conclusions Stigma experienced by persons with mental illness is complex and varied, and a better understanding of this important area would enable improved patient care in Sri Lanka.

Highlights

The stigma scale by King et al is a self-administered questionnaire with 28 statements reflecting 3 subscales, namely discrimination, disclosure and positive aspects of stigma [8]
The Sinhalese version of the stigma scale was reviewed by a group of subject experts, for face validity and cultural appropriateness; during which it was agreed that the scale should be locally adapted by addition of three statements with regards to stigma associated with marriage
The results of this study suggest that in Sri Lanka it is experienced significantly in the context of interpersonal and social issues, such as marriage

Summary

Introduction

The stigma scale by King et al is a self-administered questionnaire with 28 statements reflecting 3 subscales, namely discrimination, disclosure and positive aspects of stigma [8]. The Sinhalese version of the stigma scale was reviewed by a group of subject experts, for face validity and cultural appropriateness; during which it was agreed that the scale should be locally adapted by addition of three statements with regards to stigma associated with marriage. This cultural adaptation was done with consent from the author of the original stigma scale. For the ease of analysis the ‘strongly disagree’ and ‘disagree’ responses in the Likert scale were considered together as a combined ‘disagree’ response, and the strongly agree and agree responses were combined as well

Results

Discussion

Conclusion