A survey of clinical physician's perceptions of stigma and advocacy in patients with type 2 diabetes in Kanagawa, Japan

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: To investigate the recognition status of stigma/advocacy in patients with type 2 diabetes in clinical practice settings. METHOD: A questionnaire survey on stigma/advocacy of patients with diabetes was carried out for members of the Kanagawa Physicians Association in July 2021. RESULTS: The respondents consisted of 33 (16.6%) physicians specializing in diabetes (the D group) and 166 (83.4%) non‐specialists (the ND group). 100% of the D group and 48.8% of the ND group knew that patients may be prejudiced or discriminated against because of diabetes. In the question of whether they know the terms ‘stigma’ and ‘advocacy’, ‘know’ was 97.0% and 94.0% in the D group, compared with 45.8% and 36.7% in the ND group, respectively. 97.0% of the D group and 19.9% of the ND group know the advocacy activities of the Japanese Diabetes Society (JDS) and the Japan Association for Diabetes Education (JADEC). The specific contents of the stigma were often unknown or never experienced in the ND group. A free description of the strategy for reducing or eliminating stigma was analyzed by text mining. ‘Giving consideration to the patients' feelings’, ‘Commitment to the problem’, and ‘Dialogue’ were frequent, and there was no significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The clinician's understanding of stigma/advocacy associated with having diabetes was insufficient, and activities that alert clinicians to stigma/advocacy, especially those in the ND group, was a theme to be addressed. More awareness‐raising activities for stigma/advocacy will lead to better treatment and a better quality of life for patients with diabetes.