Impact of Self Stigma on Quality of Life of People with Mental Illness at Dilla University Referral Hospital, South Ethiopia
2017
The stigma associated with
mental illnesscan potentially be a reason for lower
qualityof
lifeamong persons with
mental illness. Since self stigma can also exist without actual stigma from the public, more hidden and inside, it seems to be the worst form of stigma against people with
mental illnessand can directly affect the overall well being of people with
mental illness. Moreover, it is also a great barrier for social interaction. However, no study is available on impact of self stigma on
qualityof
lifeof people with
mental illnessin South Ethiopia generally and particularly in Dilla town. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of self stigma on
qualityof
lifeof people with
mental illnessat Dilla University Referral Hospital, south Ethiopia. The study was conducted in the psychiatry outpatient department of Dilla University referral hospital. An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted on 317 people with
mental illnessthat attended psychiatric clinic for
mentalhealth service from June 1 st to 30 th , 2016. Data were collected using a pre tested interviewer administered structured questionnaires. Self-stigma was measured using Internalized Stigma of
Mental Illness(ISMI) Scale which was validated and used in many other similar settings.
Qualityof
lifewas measured using
qualityof
lifeassessment tool Short Form, Version-2 (SF-36). In this study, the prevalence of self stigma among people with
mental illnesswas 32.1%. Regarding
Qualityof
life(QoL) of people with
mental illness, 54.6% were experiencing lower
qualityof
life. As self stigma increases by one unit in studied participants,
qualityof
lifedecreases by 4.1% (OR=0.041; 95% C.I: -0.065,-0.012). In other words, self stigma and QOL were inversely correlated(r=-0.076) which indicates that stigma worsen QoL of people with
mental illness. The result of this study was revealed that, apparently high prevalence of self-stigma among persons with
mental illnessand lower
qualityof
life. To improve QoL of people with
mental illness, tackling stigma need to be addressed by health
professionals,
community, researchers, policy makers and stakeholders.
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