COVID-19-related stigma and its influencing factors: a nationwide cross-sectional study during the early stage of the pandemic in China
Objectives To describe the situation of COVID-19-related stigma towards patients with COVID-19 and people from the city of Wuhan in China and to assess the associations between COVID-19-related stigma, health literacy and sociodemographic characteristics during March 2020, the early stage of the pan...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2021-08-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/8/e048983.full |
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| Summary: | Objectives To describe the situation of COVID-19-related stigma towards patients with COVID-19 and people from the city of Wuhan in China and to assess the associations between COVID-19-related stigma, health literacy and sociodemographic characteristics during March 2020, the early stage of the pandemic.Design A cross-sectional online survey.Setting The study surveyed 31 provinces in China.Participants This study surveyed 5039 respondents in China.Outcome measures Public stigma towards both patients with COVID-19 and Wuhan residents was measured. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the factors associated with public COVID-19-related stigma.Results Among the participants, 122 (2.4%) reported themselves and 254 (5.0%) reported the communities they lived in as holding a stigmatising attitude towards patients with COVID-19, respectively. Additionally, 114 (2.5%) and 475 (10.3%) reported that themselves and the communities they lived in, respectively, held a stigma against people from Wuhan, which was the most severely affected area in China. People aged over 40, lived in areas with severe epidemics (adjusted OR (aOR)=2.03, 95% CI (1.05 to 3.92)) and who felt it difficult to find and understand information about COVID-19 (aOR=1.91, 95% CI (1.08 to 3.37); aOR=1.88, 95% CI (1.08 to 3.29)) were more likely to stigmatise patients with COVID-19. People who were male, aged 41–50 and had difficulty understanding information (aOR=2.08, 95% CI (1.17 to 3.69)) were more likely to stigmatise people from Wuhan.Conclusions Patients with COVID-19 and Wuhan residents suffered stigma at both the individual and the community levels. Those who had low health literacy, who lived in areas with a large number of COVID-19 cases and who were of ethnic minorities were more likely to stigmatise others. Tailored interventions are encouraged to improve health literacy and consequently to reduce public COVID-19-related stigma. |
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| ISSN: | 2044-6055 |