Stigma Experienced By Primary Care Givers of Persons with Epilepsy and Mental Illness : A Comparative Study

Stigma is society’s negative evaluation of particular features or behaviour. Various medical conditions are stigmatized. The goals of the study were to assess and compare the stigma experienced by Primary Care Givers (PCG) of persons with epilepsy and mental illness and to find out the relationship between stigma and attribution. The study was a cross sectional hospital based study used purposive sampling techniques and sampled 100 caregivers of each group; persons with mental illness and persons with epilepsy from the outpatient department (OPD) of Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), Ranchi, India. Family Interview Schedule to assess stigma and causal attribution was used. Result reveals that the primary caregivers of persons with mental illness experienced a greater degree of stigma than the primary caregivers of epilepsy. Difference in causal attribution of these two illnesses by the PCG may have important implication in psycho-educational programs of intervention to dispel stigma.