Comparison of the perceived stigmatization measures between the general population and burn survivors in Brazil

To compare perceived stigmatization, symptoms of depression and self-esteem of adults from Brazilian general population with Brazilian burns survivors and to verify the possible correlations between these populations.

The general population and burn survivors administered the adapted Brazilian versions of the Perceived Stigmatization Questionnaire (BR-PSQ-R), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). The Student's t-test for independent samples was employed to identify significant differences between the means of the results from the BR-PSQ-R, BDI and RSES instruments, and the Pearson correlation was used to detect correlations between constructs. The significance level was set at 0.05.

Participants of this study included: 102 individuals from the general population and 240 burn survivors. The difference between the BR-PSQ-R mean scores of the two groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.077). The mean scores for the BDI (p = 0.001) and RSES (p = 0.001) where found to be lower in the general population, when compared to burn survivors. Moderate correlations were identified between the perceived stigmatization and depression (r = 0.43; p < 0.001) and perceived stigmatization and self-esteem (r = -0.35; p < 0.001).

Participants from the general population and burn survivors exhibit similar levels of perception of stigmatization; the general population presented fewer symptoms of depression and a higher self-esteem when compared to burn survivors.