TY - JOUR
T1 - Stigma predicts health-related quality of life impairment, psychological distress, and somatic symptoms in acne sufferers
AU - Davern, Jamie
AU - O’Donnell, Aisling T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Davern, O’Donnell. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Acne vulgaris has been associated with deficits in psychological well-being and health-related quality of life. Few studies have investigated how stigma contributes to our understanding of the well-being of acne sufferers, although it is clear that acne is stigmatized and stigmatization is associated with impaired well-being. The current study aimed to investigate the ability of perceived stigma to predict health-related quality of life, psychological distress, and somatic symptoms over and above established predictors. University students and staff suffering from acne completed self-report measures online. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that perceived stigma significantly contributed to the prediction of all three well-being measures, over and above the effects of gender, acne severity, acne location, and use of medication. Indeed, perceived stigma made the largest unique contribution to predicting well-being. Our findings suggest that interventions that attempt to counter stigma could also improve the overall well-being of people affected by acne.
AB - Acne vulgaris has been associated with deficits in psychological well-being and health-related quality of life. Few studies have investigated how stigma contributes to our understanding of the well-being of acne sufferers, although it is clear that acne is stigmatized and stigmatization is associated with impaired well-being. The current study aimed to investigate the ability of perceived stigma to predict health-related quality of life, psychological distress, and somatic symptoms over and above established predictors. University students and staff suffering from acne completed self-report measures online. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that perceived stigma significantly contributed to the prediction of all three well-being measures, over and above the effects of gender, acne severity, acne location, and use of medication. Indeed, perceived stigma made the largest unique contribution to predicting well-being. Our findings suggest that interventions that attempt to counter stigma could also improve the overall well-being of people affected by acne.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054061664&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0205009
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0205009
M3 - Article
C2 - 30265724
AN - SCOPUS:85054061664
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
SP - e0205009
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 9
M1 - 0205009
ER -