Stigma in the Context of COVID-19 Crisis: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis

Stigmatizing anyone during a pandemic poses a threat to everyone and can be an obstacle to disease treatment. The stigma around COVID-19 stems from the fact that it is a life-threatening disease and a lot is unknown about it.

This study was conducted with the aim of analyzing and clarifying the concept of stigma in the context of COVID-19; determining its psychological and socio-psychological outcomes; enhancing understanding and recognition of features, antecedents, and consequences of the concept; and proposing an adequate definition for use in clinical practice or research.

Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis was used.

Stigma in the context of COVID-19 has antecedents, which include informational and psychological issues, media performance, and some governments' policies and actions to control COVID-19 pandemic. The attributes of COVID-19 stigma are subjective and variable, perceived, and/or experienced with interrelated intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural or institutional dimensions that can be summarized as social stigma and self-stigma. The consequences of COVID-19 stigma are social isolation and psychological burden, physical and mental violence and harassment, hiding disease, and reduced care-seeking behavior. These results will extend the body of knowledge on theory and practice and also assists future researchers in many folds.

These findings will be a major tool for the case manager/health care team, policy makers, and other human resource planning professionals to develop plans for preventing, combating, and stopping the COVID-19-related stigma.