A cross-sectional study on perception of stigma by Chinese schizophrenia patients

In this cross-sectional study, we sought to assess the extent of internalized stigma among inpatients and outpatients with schizophrenia in the People's Republic of China and to investigate whether education level correlated with the experience of stigma.

Schizophrenia patients were evaluated using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Clinical Global Impressions-Severity of Illness (CGI-S) scale and the Stigma Scale for Mental Illness (SSMI-C). Patients were categorized into high education and low education groups, according to their educational levels.

One hundred thirty-three subjects were included in the study. Their mean course of illness was 4.32±6.14 years (range: 1 month to 15 years). Their mean BPRS score was 19.87±5.46, their mean PANSS score was 44.11±13.1, and their mean CGI-S score was 2.22±0.81. In addition, their mean SSMI-C score was 6.49±0.9. The mean SSMI-C score of patients who have received high school education or above was 7.15±0.98, which was markedly higher than that of patients who have received middle school education or below, which was 5.75±0.79 (P<0.05). Before the study most patients (92.5%, 123/133) took atypical drugs.

Education level impacts on the perception of stigma by schizophrenia patients, and more psychoeducation should be undertaken to improve patients' knowledge about schizophrenia.