Journal of Viral Hepatitis
Volume 19, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 147-152

Characterizing hepatitis B stigma in Chinese immigrants (Article)

Cotler S.J. , Cotler S.* , Xie H. , Luc B.J. , Layden T.J. , Wong S.S.
  • a Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, United States
  • b Department of Psychology, DePaul University, MC 787, 840 S. Wood St., Chicago, IL 60612, United States
  • c Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Quantitative Biomedical Sciences Program, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
  • d Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, United States
  • e Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, United States
  • f Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, United States

Abstract

Health-related stigma is a cause of stress, alienation and discrimination that can serve as a barrier to prevention and care for infectious diseases such as HIV. Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related stigma is common in Asian immigrants, but has not been formally evaluated. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the first HBV stigma instrument and to begin to evaluate HBV stigma in Chinese immigrants. The HBV stigma instrument was developed based on constructs from validated HIV stigma scales and organized into five domains. A written survey was compiled to include demographic data, HBV knowledge questions and stigma items. The survey was pilot tested in English and Chinese and then finalized. Data were obtained from 201 patients seen in an urban Chinatown Internal Medicine practice. The stigma items showed a high degree of reliability when assessed in aggregate (α = 0.85) as well as within individual domains. Stigma was greatest in the Fear of Contagion domain. Knowledge questions showed a corresponding deficit in understanding of modes of HBV transmission. An inverse relationship between stigma scores and familiarity with HBV provided evidence of construct validity. In multivariable analysis, having a family member with HBV and higher HBV knowledge subset scores were associated with lower degrees of stigma. In conclusion, the hepatitis B stigma instrument showed reliability and construct validity. The relationship identified between familiarity and knowledge regarding HBV with lower stigma scores provides the basis for the development of interventions to reduce HBV stigma. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Author Keywords

Chinese immigrants hepatitis B knowledge Hepatitis B Stigma

Index Keywords

urban population rating scale immigrant Chinese HIV human middle aged Asian continental ancestry group priority journal Hepatitis B virus Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants female reliability construct validity questionnaire Social Stigma stigma Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice scoring system Article major clinical study adult virus transmission hepatitis B virus carrier Fear attitude to health health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84855825940&doi=10.1111%2fj.1365-2893.2011.01462.x&partnerID=40&md5=608044436a9d65db833bbdf2930be880
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2893.2011.01462.x
ISSN: 13520504
Cited by: 39
Original Language: English