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Stigmatisation associated with COVID-19 in the general Colombian population
Carlos Arturo Cassiani-Miranda1,2, Adalberto Campo-Arias2,3, Andrés Felipe Tirado-Otálvaro2,4
1Faculty of Health Sciences, Medicine Program, UDES Neuroscience Research Group Universidad de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Background:
As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, the fear of infection increases and, with it, the stigma-discrimination, which makes it an additional problem of the epidemic. However, studies about stigma associated with coronavirus are scarce worldwide.
Aims:
To determine the association between stigmatisation and fear of COVID-19 in the general population of Colombia.
Method:
A cross-sectional study was carried out. A total of 1,687 adults between 18 and 76 years old (M = 36.3; SD = 12.5), 41.1% health workers, filled out an online questionnaire on Stigma-Discrimination and the COVID-5 Fear Scale, adapted by the research team.
Results:
The proportion of high fear of COVID-19 was 34.1%; When comparing the affirmative answers to the questionnaire on stigma-discrimination towards COVID-19, it was found that the difference was significantly higher in the general population compared to health workers in most of the questions evaluated, which indicates a high level of stigmatisation in that group. An association between high fear of COVID-19 and stigma was evidenced in 63.6% of the questions in the questionnaire.
Conclusion:
Stigma-discrimination towards COVID-19 is frequent in the Colombian population and is associated with high levels of fear towards said disease, mainly people who are not health workers.
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