Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal

Background: Stigma is a social process of interpretation of an attribute. Leprosy has been seen as the epitome of stigmatization. The psychosocial impact a person has to bear in a society after the diagnosis weighs heavier than the physical afflictions it causes, which does not get cured with the me...

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Main Authors:	Adhikari, B, Shrestha, K, Kaehler, N, Raut, S, Chapman, RS
Format:	Technical Report
Language:	en_US
Published:	2016
Subjects:	attitude community leprosy stigma
Online Access:	http://103.69.126.140:8080/handle/123456789/141
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spelling	oai:103.69.126.140:123456789-1412022-11-08T10:29:25Z Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal Adhikari, B Shrestha, K Kaehler, N Raut, S Chapman, RS attitude community leprosy stigma Background: Stigma is a social process of interpretation of an attribute. Leprosy has been seen as the epitome of stigmatization. The psychosocial impact a person has to bear in a society after the diagnosis weighs heavier than the physical afflictions it causes, which does not get cured with the mere medical treatment. There are various factors which construct the perception of stigma in both leprosy affected persons and unaffected persons. The main purpose of this study was to determine the level of perceived stigma and the risk factors contributing to it among community people living in ward 15, Pokhara municipality. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study among 281 community people above the age of 18 years was conducted. Two sets of questionnaire form with additional Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC) for each individual were used. Results: Among 281 community people, the median score of perceived stigma was 12 while it ranged from 0-30. Ethnic groups, Brahmins, Dalits and minorities had highest perceived stigma score of 15 and above compared to the rest (p=0.001), community people living at the distance more than 2 km had highest perceived stigma score of 15 compared to those living closer to the hospital (p=0.019) and nuclear family had highest perceived stigma score of 15 compared to the joint family (p=0.014). People who lacked information on leprosy had higher score of perceived stigma compared to those who had information on leprosy (p=0.002). Similarly, those who perceived leprosy to be difficult to treat (p<0.001) and a severe disease (p<0.001) had highest score of perceived stigma. Conclusions: Stigma in leprosy was found highly associated with the lack of information about leprosy and their perception in treatment and disease severity. Stigma reduction strategies should focus on health education, targeting to alleviate their perception about the disease with their active participation. Keywords: attitude; community; leprosy; stigma. 2016-11-10T15:05:16Z 2022-11-08T10:10:34Z 2016-11-10T15:05:16Z 2022-11-08T10:10:34Z 2013 Technical Report http://103.69.126.140:8080/handle/123456789/141 en_US application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
institution	My University
collection	DSpace
language	en_US
topic	attitude community leprosy stigma
spellingShingle	attitude community leprosy stigma Adhikari, B Shrestha, K Kaehler, N Raut, S Chapman, RS Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal
description	Background: Stigma is a social process of interpretation of an attribute. Leprosy has been seen as the epitome of stigmatization. The psychosocial impact a person has to bear in a society after the diagnosis weighs heavier than the physical afflictions it causes, which does not get cured with the mere medical treatment. There are various factors which construct the perception of stigma in both leprosy affected persons and unaffected persons. The main purpose of this study was to determine the level of perceived stigma and the risk factors contributing to it among community people living in ward 15, Pokhara municipality. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study among 281 community people above the age of 18 years was conducted. Two sets of questionnaire form with additional Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC) for each individual were used. Results: Among 281 community people, the median score of perceived stigma was 12 while it ranged from 0-30. Ethnic groups, Brahmins, Dalits and minorities had highest perceived stigma score of 15 and above compared to the rest (p=0.001), community people living at the distance more than 2 km had highest perceived stigma score of 15 compared to those living closer to the hospital (p=0.019) and nuclear family had highest perceived stigma score of 15 compared to the joint family (p=0.014). People who lacked information on leprosy had higher score of perceived stigma compared to those who had information on leprosy (p=0.002). Similarly, those who perceived leprosy to be difficult to treat (p<0.001) and a severe disease (p<0.001) had highest score of perceived stigma. Conclusions: Stigma in leprosy was found highly associated with the lack of information about leprosy and their perception in treatment and disease severity. Stigma reduction strategies should focus on health education, targeting to alleviate their perception about the disease with their active participation. Keywords: attitude; community; leprosy; stigma.
format	Technical Report
author	Adhikari, B Shrestha, K Kaehler, N Raut, S Chapman, RS
author_facet	Adhikari, B Shrestha, K Kaehler, N Raut, S Chapman, RS
author_sort	Adhikari, B
title	Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal
title_short	Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal
title_full	Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal
title_fullStr	Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal
title_full_unstemmed	Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal
title_sort	community attitudes towards leprosy affected persons in pokhara municipality of western nepal
publishDate	2016
url	http://103.69.126.140:8080/handle/123456789/141
work_keys_str_mv	AT adhikarib communityattitudestowardsleprosyaffectedpersonsinpokharamunicipalityofwesternnepal AT shresthak communityattitudestowardsleprosyaffectedpersonsinpokharamunicipalityofwesternnepal AT kaehlern communityattitudestowardsleprosyaffectedpersonsinpokharamunicipalityofwesternnepal AT rauts communityattitudestowardsleprosyaffectedpersonsinpokharamunicipalityofwesternnepal AT chapmanrs communityattitudestowardsleprosyaffectedpersonsinpokharamunicipalityofwesternnepal
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Community Attitudes towards Leprosy Affected Persons in Pokhara Municipality of Western Nepal

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