The perceived social stigma, self-esteem, and its determinants among the health care professionals working in India during COVID 19 pandemic

Rakesh Vadakkethil Radhakrishnan; Mantu Jain; Chitta Ranjan Mohanty; Jaison Jacob; Asha P Shetty; Shine Stephen; V R Vijay; Alwin Issac

doi:10.1016/j.mjafi.2021.01.017

The perceived social stigma, self-esteem, and its determinants among the health care professionals working in India during COVID 19 pandemic

Med J Armed Forces India. 2021 Jul;77(Suppl 2):S450-S458. doi: 10.1016/j.mjafi.2021.01.017. Epub 2021 Jul 26.

Authors

Rakesh Vadakkethil Radhakrishnan¹, Mantu Jain², Chitta Ranjan Mohanty³, Jaison Jacob¹, Asha P Shetty⁴, Shine Stephen¹, V R Vijay¹, Alwin Issac¹

Affiliations

¹ Tutor/Clinical Instructor, College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, India.
² Associate Professor (Orthopedics), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, India.
³ Associate Professor (Trauma & Emergency), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, India.
⁴ Principal & Professor, College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, India.

Abstract

Background: Health conditions perceived as contagious, dangerous, or incurable are associated with some facets of social stigma.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 9, 2020 to June 9, 2020, among frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) in India to understand their perceived stigmatizing experiences (SE) and self-esteem during the COVID-19 pandemic. Google forms, an online forms tool, was used to create the survey, and samples were recruited through snowball sampling. Data comprised baseline characteristics of HCWs and their responses to the modified version of the Inventory of Stigmatizing Experiences and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

Results: Of the 600 participants (mean age: 30.9 ± 6.7 years), 76% comprised of nurses. Most participants were residing in urban areas and working in government sectors in clinical areas. Approximately 66.3% HCWs had at least 1 SE, and 51.7% reported a high impact of stigma (SI) across their various life domains, viz. quality of life, social contacts, self-esteem, and family relations, but 73% had normal self-esteem. The SI was more at the family level than at the individual level. The prevalence of SE (69.5% vs. 56.6%) and psychosocial SI (54.5% vs. 44.1%) was higher among nurses than among doctors. Being a nurse and working in clinical areas were statistically significant (P < 0.05 and < 0.01, respectively) for predicting SE likelihood.

Conclusion: Although HCWs have their own apprehensions, they do have high self-esteem and continue to deliver professional duties despite their SE. The government should frame guidelines to stop such discrimination and hail the saviors.

Keywords: COVID-19; Discrimination; Health care worker; Self-esteem; Social stigma.