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The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis

Background and Objectives: Stigma and lack of acceptance in society might have detrimental effects on the quality of life of patients with psoriasis, sometimes being comparable with other chronic diseases and conditions that affect the appearance of a patient, such as burns. Therefore, we surveyed o...

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Autores principales: Decean, Luminita, Badea, Mihai, Rus, Victoria, Buicu, Gabriela, Sasu, Andreea, Pilut, Ciprian Nicolae, Mihai, Adriana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9610553/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36295580
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58101420
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author Decean, Luminita
Badea, Mihai
Rus, Victoria
Buicu, Gabriela
Sasu, Andreea
Pilut, Ciprian Nicolae
Mihai, Adriana
author_facet Decean, Luminita
Badea, Mihai
Rus, Victoria
Buicu, Gabriela
Sasu, Andreea
Pilut, Ciprian Nicolae
Mihai, Adriana
author_sort Decean, Luminita
collection PubMed
description Background and Objectives: Stigma and lack of acceptance in society might have detrimental effects on the quality of life of patients with psoriasis, sometimes being comparable with other chronic diseases and conditions that affect the appearance of a patient, such as burns. Therefore, we surveyed our patients diagnosed with psoriasis to determine the implications of misinformation and stigma for their quality of life, depression, and coping strategies stratified by different age categories. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed for a sample size of a minimum of 45 patients considering a prevalence of psoriasis of 2–3% in the general population. The study participants (patients and controls) were given both a paper-based unstandardized questionnaire and an online version of three standardized surveys. The cohort of patients was further split into three age groups to determine their age-related quality of life and coping mechanisms. Results: The proportion of patients with a history of depression and depressive symptoms among patients with psoriasis was significantly higher. Multiple discrepancies were observed between patients and controls regarding questions that targeted stigma and misinformation. On the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (COPE-60) questionnaire, older patients were more likely to use positive coping mechanisms such as engagement and problem-focused coping, while the young patients were using more emotion-focused coping mechanisms. However, patients in the 30–50 age range group scored the highest on physical and mental health among all participants who filled the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12) survey. The Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) results showed significantly more patients answering “a lot and very much” concerning embarrassment and social activities, while sexual difficulties affected the older patients. The strongest correlations with depression were observed in the young patient group, who believed that psoriasis can cause skin cancer (rho = 0.418) and who had sexual difficulties (rho = 0.414) and embarrassment (rho = 0.359) as evaluated by the DLQI survey. In the 30- to 50-year-old group, the strongest correlations were with the feeling of being stigmatized (rho = 0.376), having sexual difficulties (rho = 0.367) and disengagement coping style (rho = 273). Conclusions: While the respondents are reasonably well-informed regarding psoriasis, a degree of stigma remains, likely due to involuntary emotional responses such as repulsion and embarrassment. It is essential to establish initiatives aimed at educating the general public, raising awareness, and establishing a more tolerant social environment for psoriasis patients.
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spelling pubmed-96105532022-10-28 The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis Decean, Luminita Badea, Mihai Rus, Victoria Buicu, Gabriela Sasu, Andreea Pilut, Ciprian Nicolae Mihai, Adriana Medicina (Kaunas) Article Background and Objectives: Stigma and lack of acceptance in society might have detrimental effects on the quality of life of patients with psoriasis, sometimes being comparable with other chronic diseases and conditions that affect the appearance of a patient, such as burns. Therefore, we surveyed our patients diagnosed with psoriasis to determine the implications of misinformation and stigma for their quality of life, depression, and coping strategies stratified by different age categories. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed for a sample size of a minimum of 45 patients considering a prevalence of psoriasis of 2–3% in the general population. The study participants (patients and controls) were given both a paper-based unstandardized questionnaire and an online version of three standardized surveys. The cohort of patients was further split into three age groups to determine their age-related quality of life and coping mechanisms. Results: The proportion of patients with a history of depression and depressive symptoms among patients with psoriasis was significantly higher. Multiple discrepancies were observed between patients and controls regarding questions that targeted stigma and misinformation. On the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (COPE-60) questionnaire, older patients were more likely to use positive coping mechanisms such as engagement and problem-focused coping, while the young patients were using more emotion-focused coping mechanisms. However, patients in the 30–50 age range group scored the highest on physical and mental health among all participants who filled the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12) survey. The Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) results showed significantly more patients answering “a lot and very much” concerning embarrassment and social activities, while sexual difficulties affected the older patients. The strongest correlations with depression were observed in the young patient group, who believed that psoriasis can cause skin cancer (rho = 0.418) and who had sexual difficulties (rho = 0.414) and embarrassment (rho = 0.359) as evaluated by the DLQI survey. In the 30- to 50-year-old group, the strongest correlations were with the feeling of being stigmatized (rho = 0.376), having sexual difficulties (rho = 0.367) and disengagement coping style (rho = 273). Conclusions: While the respondents are reasonably well-informed regarding psoriasis, a degree of stigma remains, likely due to involuntary emotional responses such as repulsion and embarrassment. It is essential to establish initiatives aimed at educating the general public, raising awareness, and establishing a more tolerant social environment for psoriasis patients. MDPI 2022-10-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9610553/ /pubmed/36295580 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58101420 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Decean, Luminita
Badea, Mihai
Rus, Victoria
Buicu, Gabriela
Sasu, Andreea
Pilut, Ciprian Nicolae
Mihai, Adriana
The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis
title The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis
title_full The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis
title_fullStr The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis
title_full_unstemmed The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis
title_short The Implication of Misinformation and Stigma in Age-Related Quality of Life, Depression, and Coping Mechanisms of Adult Patients with Psoriasis
title_sort implication of misinformation and stigma in age-related quality of life, depression, and coping mechanisms of adult patients with psoriasis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9610553/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36295580
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58101420
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