The Mother of all Evils: Hepatitis C Virus Stigma in the Workplace

Abstract

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a worldwide epidemic. Studies show that people with HCV are stigmatized in many life domains including the workplace. Research on stigma has been negatively affected by the lack of a clear and parsimonious conceptualization of the phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to modify Link and his colleagues’ (2001, 2004) definition of stigma by making it more parsimonious and clarifying the relationships between its components. We hypothesized that stigma is a multidimensional latent construct that is composed of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. Additionally, we sought to use this new conceptualization to construct a new instrument to measure HCV stigma in the workplace. The instrument was developed over a multistage process that was guided by existing instruments and focus groups. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyze the data that was collected from 224 employees working in an Egyptian public university. Results support the hypothesis that stigma is a multid...