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Rural‐Urban Differences in Stigma and the Use of Care for Depressive Disorders
Author(s) -
Rost Kathryn,
Smith G. Richard,
Taylor J. Lynn
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
the journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.439
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1748-0361
pISSN - 0890-765X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-0361.1993.tb00495.x
Subject(s) - stigma (botany) , psychiatry , depressive symptoms , psychological intervention , metropolitan area , medicine , rural area , mental health , logistic regression , help seeking , social stigma , clinical psychology , psychology , gerontology , family medicine , anxiety , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , pathology
Stigma may be a particularly important barrier to mental health care in rural communities where lack of anonymity increases the probability that someone who seeks care will be labeled “crazy.” This study examined rural‐urban differences in the stigma associated with depressive symptoms and the stigma associated with seeking treatment for depressive disorders. In addition, the study compared how the stigma associated with seeking treatment predicted use of care in rural and urban residents with a history of depressive symptoms. Two hundred subjects from metropolitan and adjacent non‐metropolitan counties rated one of four randomly selected vignettes using 14‐point semantic differential scales. The findings indicated that rural residents with a history of depressive symptoms labeled people who sought professional kelp for the disorder somewhat more negatively than their urban counterparts. Logistic models controlling for sociodemographic characteristics demonstrated that the more negative the labeling, the less likely depressed rural residents were to have sought professional help. Labeling was not associated with use of care among urban people with depressive symptoms. We concluded that prospective studies are warranted to inform the development of interventions to decrease the stigma associated with seeking treatment for depressive disorders in rural communities.

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