How researchers refer to individuals with schizophrenia: person-first and identity-first language in academic papers.

ABSTRACT: Stigma associated with schizophrenia has been well-documented in both society and healthcare settings. However, the use of stigmatizing language in research papers remains largely unexplored. This study examined how researchers refer to schizophrenia in peer-reviewed articles, aiming to characterize the descriptive terms used to refer to individuals with schizophrenia and assess the adoption of person-first language. We conducted an electronic search on PubMed using the MeSH term "schizophrenia" and randomly selected 500 articles. Descriptive terminology was categorized as neutral (e.g., "schizophrenia patients"), person-first (e.g., "person with schizophrenia"), or identity-first (e.g., "schizophrenic patient"). Reference terms were assessed based on their alignment with a person-first pe

SUBMITTER: Dino M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12663300 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature