Open AccessStigma Experienced By Primary Care Givers of Persons with Epilepsy and Mental Illness : A Comparative Study
Author(s) -
Kamlesh Kumar Sahu,
Arvind Kumar,
Sudeshna Mukherjee,
Santosh Kumar Sahu,
A N Verma
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
bengal journal of psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2348-9227
DOI - 10.51332/bjp.2014.v19.i2.53
Subject(s) - attribution , mental illness , stigma (botany) , psychiatry , epilepsy , psychology , clinical psychology , primary care , nonprobability sampling , outpatient clinic , mental health , medicine , family medicine , social psychology , population , environmental health
Stigma is society’s negative evaluation of particular features or behaviour. Various medicalconditions are stigmatized. The goals of the study were to assess and compare the stigma experienced by Primary Care Givers (PCG) of persons with epilepsy and mental illness and to find out the relationship between stigma and attribution. The study was a cross sectional hospital based study used purposive sampling techniques and sampled 100 caregivers of each group; persons with mental illness and persons with epilepsy from the outpatient department (OPD) of CentralInstitute of Psychiatry (CIP), Ranchi, India. Family Interview Schedule to assess stigma and causal attribution was used. Result reveals that the primary caregivers of persons with mental illness experienced a greater degree of stigma than the primary caregivers of epilepsy. Difference in causal attribution of these two illnesses by the PCG may have important implication in psycho-educational programs of intervention to dispel stigma.Key words : Stigma, epilepsy, mental illness, attitude, discrimination