Social Stigma, Mental Health, Stress, and Health-Related Quality of Life in People with Long COVID

Urte Scholz (), Walter Bierbauer and Janina Lüscher
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Urte Scholz: Applied Social and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14/Box 14, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Walter Bierbauer: Applied Social and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14/Box 14, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Janina Lüscher: Swiss Paraplegic Research, Guido A. Zaech-Strasse 4, 6207 Nottwil, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: A considerable amount of people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 experience ongoing symptoms, a condition termed long COVID. This study examined nuanced experiences of social stigma in people with long COVID and their associations with perceived stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and mental and physical health-related quality of life (hrqol). A total of N = 253 participants with long COVID symptoms (mean age = 45.49, SD = 12.03; n = 224, 88.5% women) completed a cross-sectional online survey on overall social stigma and the subfacets enacted and perceived external stigma, disclosure concerns, and internalized stigma. Data were analysed using multiple regression and controlling for overall burden of consequences of long COVID, overall burden of symptoms of long COVID, and outcome-specific confounders. In line with our preregistered hypotheses, total social stigma was related to more perceived stress, more depressive symptoms, higher anxiety, and lower mental hrqol, but—in contrast to our hypothesis—it was unrelated to physical hrqol after controlling for confounders. The three subscales of social stigma resulted in differential associations with the outcomes. Social stigma experiences go hand in hand with worse mental health in people with long COVID. Future studies should examine potential protective factors to buffer the effects of social stigma on people’s well-being.

Keywords: long COVID; social stigma; depressive symptoms; anxiety; health-related quality of life; stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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