Stigma in Children with Chronic Medical Conditions
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Stigma, concealment and psychological wellbeing in children and young people with chronic medical conditions.
IRAS ID
256531
Contact name
Kristina Soon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Great Ormond Stret Hospital for Children NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 6 days
Research summary
Stigma can be defined as an "undesired different-ness" (Goffman, 1963). We are interested in finding out whether children and young people (CYP) with medical conditions feel that their medical condition stigmatises them in the eyes of society. Physical health (PH) stigma is an important psychological experience to understand because we know that people who feel stigmatised are more likely to feel unhappy, report more mental health problems and are less likely to engage in healthcare resulting in poorer medical outcomes.
Our study will measure PH stigma in young people with chronic medical conditions; their beliefs about concealment/disclosure of their medical condition; attitudes towards having a medical condition and how these factors relate to psychological wellbeing. We also aim to investigate the role of parental attitudes towards medical conditions and the effect of the visibility of the medical condition on perceived stigma.
We aim to include eight-14 year olds who have a chronic dermatological or urological condition that require specialist paediatric care. CYP with upcoming routine out-patient appointments will be approached. Participants will need to be able to read and understand English language questionnaires that are written to an average eight-year-old reading level. Children who are acutely unwell or emotionally distressed will be excluded from the study. Children whose parent is unable to complete the questionnaires due to language and/or reading ability will also be excluded from the study.
The study will be conducted at a UK specialist paediatric hospital.
The study will run for approximately six months. The participation of each CYP will be no longer than 20 minutes; the participation of each parent no longer than 10-15 minutes.REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0967
Date of REC Opinion
29 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion