Abstract:
This study attempted to examine the prevalence and associated factors of internalized
stigma among persons with severe mental illness in Amanuel Specialized Mental Hospital.
The study employed cross-sectional design in order to select 114 participants
from bipolar, schizophrenia and major depression diagnosed patients using convenient
sampling technique. Pre-developed standardized instruments were used in order to
measure constructs of internalized stigma, experienced stigma and self-esteem. The
results of the study indicated that nearly higher proportion of the participants, which is
49 (43%) of them, experienced moderate level of internalized stigma and 37 (32.5%)
and 21 (18.4%) of participants exhibited mild and minimal levels of internalized stigma
respectively. This study also indicated that there was a significant positive relationship
between internalized stigma and experienced discrimination, r=0.743, p<.05. There
was also a very mild positive relationship between internalized stigma and duration of
time living with the illness, r=0.367, p<.05. However, internalized stigma was negatively
correlated wit h self-esteem, r-.486,p<.05. Similarly, internalized stigma was
negatively correlated with general self-efficacy, r= -.671,p<.05. About 68.9% variation
of internalized stigma was explained by the variation of self-efficacy, self-esteem, experiencing
stigma, age of the participants, and length of time living wit h the illnessI .n
conclusion, the study revealed that the internalized Stigma of participants can be explained
by the associated factors of age, self-esteem, self-efficacy, length of time living
with the illness and experienced stigma.
