» Articles » PMID: 39885798

The Role of Knowledge and Personal Experience in Shaping Stigma Associated With COVID-19 and Mental Illness

Overview
Date 2025 Jan 31
PMID 39885798
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

Objective: Stigma influences perceptions of mental illness and novel diseases like coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), often impeding healthcare access despite advancements in medical treatment. This study compares the stigma associated with COVID-19 and mental illness to identify factors that could help reduce stigma.

Methods: An online survey was conducted in May 2023 among 1,500 participants aged 19 to 65 in South Korea, using a panel from Embrain, an online survey service. The survey assessed stigma and distress related to COVID-19 and mental illness using a validated questionnaire. It collected demographic and clinical data, evaluated COVID-19-related stigma, fear, and knowledge, and measured prejudice and attitudes toward psychiatric treatment. Personality traits were assessed using the Big Five Inventory (BFI)-10. Factors significantly associated with stigma scores were entered into linear regression analysis.

Results: COVID-19-related stigma scores were significantly negatively correlated with knowledge of COVID-19 and positively correlated with fear of infection and age. Individuals with a history of COVID-19 infection had significantly lower scores on COVID-19-related stigma. Similarly, mental illness stigma was negatively correlated with knowledge of psychiatric treatment and positively correlated with age, as well as conscientiousness and neuroticism in the BFI. Personal experience with individuals with mental illness was associated with significantly lower stigma scores.

Conclusion: This study suggests that the mechanism-making stigma was similar in cases of traditional mental illness and a novel infectious disease. Both cognitive and experiential factors influence stigma. Educating the public about the disease and enabling interactions with affected individuals emerge as effective strategies for stigma reduction.

References
1.
Yuan Q, Seow E, Abdin E, Chua B, Ong H, Samari E . Direct and moderating effects of personality on stigma towards mental illness. BMC Psychiatry. 2018; 18(1):358. PMC: 6219152. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-018-1932-3. View

2.
Gabbidon J, Farrelly S, Hatch S, Henderson C, Williams P, Bhugra D . Discrimination attributed to mental illness or race-ethnicity by users of community psychiatric services. Psychiatr Serv. 2014; 65(11):1360-6. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.201300302. View

3.
Jung H, Park C, Kim M, Jhon M, Kim J, Ryu S . Factors associated with mask wearing among psychiatric inpatients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schizophr Res. 2021; 228:235-236. PMC: 7831677. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.12.029. View

4.
Nyblade L, Stockton M, Giger K, Bond V, Ekstrand M, Mc Lean R . Stigma in health facilities: why it matters and how we can change it. BMC Med. 2019; 17(1):25. PMC: 6376713. DOI: 10.1186/s12916-019-1256-2. View

5.
Gilead M, Liberman N . We take care of our own: caregiving salience increases out-group bias in response to out-group threat. Psychol Sci. 2014; 25(7):1380-7. DOI: 10.1177/0956797614531439. View