Stigma is an undesired differentness associated with a particular characteristic or condition that distinguishes a person as being outside the norm and cueing stereotypes. Stigma is common in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and is associated with several disease variables including disease duration, age, age of onset, and disease course. Stigma is also associated with psychological and psychosocial variables such as depression, anxiety, and quality of life. This article reviews our current understanding of stigma in people with MS with a focus on the various stigma types including anticipated, experienced, and internalized stigma, and the lack of consistent definitions across studies. It also describes the 7 instruments that are most commonly used to measure stigma in people with MS, and the limitations of each measure. We conclude that a better understanding of stigma that includes standard definitions of stigma types could lead to more direct intervention strategies aimed at reducing particular stigma concepts and resulting in improved health-related quality of life in people with MS.
Communication can be a challenge for a significant minority of the population. Those with intellectual disability, autism, or Stroke survivors can encounter significant problems and stigma in their communication abilities leading to worse health and social outcomes. SpeechMatch (https://www.
Introduction: Rates of prenatal cannabis use (PCU) have increased in recent years. Despite evidence of developmental health consequences to offspring and birthing person, there has been a reduction in the perception of PCU-related harms. Due to the stigma and risk of legal consequences associated with disclosing PCU, individuals are often cautious to seek information from their healthcare providers.
Purpose: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer among men. Despite advancements in clinical interventions and improvements in public health outreach, a multi-dimensional lack of understanding of the lived experiences of men diagnosed with PCa continues. Improving the quantity and quality of knowledge about this subject could guide clinical decisions and interventions for this group.
Social support is widely beneficial for individuals suffering from mental health disorders. Preliminary work suggests that it is influential in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but no studies have investigated the importance of social support as it relates to readiness to change (RTC, a relevant variable in treatment-seeking populations. The present study aimed to investigate this relationship as well as broadly characterize support-seeking experiences in those with OCD.
