Social Psychiatry, Vol. 47 No. 4, 2019.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24869/spsih.2019.433
Perceived Self-Stigmatization of Patients Hospitalized at Psychiatry Department of Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka
Roberto Licul
; General Hospital Pula, Service for Surgery, Pula, Croatia
Ika Rončević-Gržeta
; Rijeka University Hospital Centre, University Department of Psychiatry, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of this paper was to examine the self-stigmatizing attitudes of the examinees from the group of mentally ill patients and determine their level of self-esteem and self-efficacy while comparing their results with those of examinees from the control group from the general population. 176 participants were included in this research and divided into two groups. The first group (74 subjects) consisted of patients hospitalized at the Psychiatric Department of the Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka and the second, control group (102 subjects) was selected from a sample of the general population. The respondents were given a questionnaire that consisted of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the General Self-Efficacy Scale, while psychiatric patients were also given the questionnaire for assessing self-stigmatization which was
designed for the purpose of this research. The first group (psychiatric patients) has statistically significantly lower levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy than the examinees from the general population. Our results show statistically significant negative correlation between the degree of self-esteem and self-efficacy in relation to perceived self-stigmatization. Those participants with lower levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy have more self-stigmatizing attitudes. These attitudes reflect the stereotypes about people with mental illness present in society and subsequently the acceptance and application of those stereotypes by the psychiatric patients, which are the preconditions for self-stigma. Self-stigmatization has farreaching consequences on the quality of life, life functionality, and the social interaction of affected individuals.
Keywords
Mentally Ill Patients; Self-efficacy; Self-esteem; Self-stigmatization; Stigma
Hrčak ID:
232532
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2019.
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